“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, whether you like it or not.”
― Thomas Henry Huxley
― Thomas Henry Huxley
I am actually fairly disciplined, but I am not very disciplined. Being very disciplined makes me feel hemmed in and restricted. The spontaneous parts of life don't fit well into a disciplined one. I like drifting off track from time to time and discovering other things. I like following a path and becoming emersed in something creative and seeing what develops.
I am disciplined about things I believe are important. I get up early because I work better in the morning. I feed the animals after I make coffee, but before I eat myself because it is only fair since they cannot feed themselves. I walk the dog as soon as it gets light, or when he comes to tell me it is time, because that also seems fair. The animals are my responsibility, so I have disciplines around them. The small orange cat that has become a part of our yard, is now a responsibility. he is very sweet and does not act or look like a ferral. I feed him every day, for which I am rewarded by being able to pet him. He even lets me pick him up for a short time.
I water my plants, put them all in the garage when the weather freezes. I prune and weed, and mow and dig because it is what is necessary to keep my yard from taking over in ways that are not appealing. The current yard discipline is two fold: mowing and putting in the February vegetable garden. Starting the plants for March inside and under lights is more than I want to pay for, so they are out in little plastic containers I get food in. Little greenhouses. So far the lettuce is the only thing that is coming up, but it is really a February start. The grass is high, so mowing is the order of the day tomorrow.
What is interfering with discipline now is the inability to walk as fast or as much, and being unable to spend all day on my feet. Now I choose carefully because not everything is possible.
I am usually disciplined about school, and work and the things for which there are outside rules and imitations. So I need to get to bed, another minor discipline. I need to start drawing in the mornings again, but tomorrow I have to write code in the morning, an errand to run, and after the mowing, a second set of onions to plant, then watering and more vegetable beds to dig and turn. The weather is just starting to warm, but I already feel I am late.
Spring is here, blossoms on trees, green shoots and buds. Time is a wastin'.
