Lessons From High School

Years ago, one of my high school teachers was known to quote the phrase "Self-discipline is the yoke of a free man." I don't think I thought much about what it meant at the time, except to know that she used it to keep sometimes rowdy high school boys in line.
 
These days I get it a whole lot more. Self-discipline is what makes me leave home in time to make my train. Self-discipline is writing a blog every day. Self-discipline is doing laundry even when you don't want to. And self-discipline is what I try to teach my kids when I need them to choose, on their own, to do their homework before watching TV. (I have never used the phrase with them, but believe me, they know there are yokes in their otherwise free existence!)
 
In our day to day lives, it takes a lot of the self-discipline that my high school teacher talked about, just to get things done. In the best of cases, we are just accomplishing the things we'd like to, with little help from that yoke. As my teacher recognized, we just need a little help sometimes to do the right thing, and the proverbial yoke is the help we give ourselves.
 
It's amazing how things from your early life stick with you. Though I don't always remember what I had for breakfast (and let's face it, why would I need to?), the high school lessons still inform parts of my life today. And while I may not be free (yoke included, thank you), I'm writing the blog, headed out the door on time, and doing just fine.