Just Do It

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A few weeks back, a popular blogger was running a series of posts about personal discipline (a subject in which I could use some help). I was surprised when one of the topics focused on the blogger's struggle with getting dressed each day. The temptation was for her to get busy and stay in pj's or work out clothes all day, and then feel like a frump when her husband came home from work. Given her stellar example in business and homemaking, this was a bit of a shock to me.

Even more surprising was that there were hundreds of comments from women who identified with the blogger. Many of them were validating (or just excusing) her struggle, and I was completely taken back by the amount of women who feel that it is acceptable for them (and their kids) to - on a regular basis - nix getting dressed. "It saves on laundry when we all stay in our pj's," was mentioned several times. It was apparent by many of the responses that there were a lot of women who were trying to convince themselves and others that the behavior was acceptable. Of course, I typically visualize everything I read, and the images of smelly moms with stinky breath and grungy hair greeting their hardworking husbands at the end of the day just didn't strike me as excusable. Not to mention passing along this lifestyle to the houseful of kids they are raising...you get the idea.

Now it's probably not all that terrible to stay in our pj's once in awhile, especially if we're sick or have other circumstances, but it did occur to me that in the amount of time it took for the commenters to read and then comment, they could have been fully dressed and ready to greet the day with a certain amount of class and dignity. :-)

But it also occurred to me that while I was judging this group of people for their seeming lack of motivation to just "get up and do it," there are so many topics on which I am continually reading or studying, when I actually have all of the information I need. The big inhibitor is myself, and my own lack of motivation.

You've probably heard it said that it's not so much what we don't know that hurts us; it's what we do know and aren't practicing.   I've been thinking about that a lot lately, and wondering how much better my life would be for myself and for my family, if I would just act on every single discipline that I know.  If I would just force myself to do all the things that I detest, rather than ignoring even just one, how much of a difference would it make?  Hmmm...something to think about.  But then again, I need to quit thinking and start acting.  :-)