365 Days With Self-Discipline: 365 Life-Altering Thoughts on Self-Control, Mental Resilience, and Success

Day 318: On the Inconvenience of Change

Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.

—Richard Hooker

 

319

If  you  want  to  remodel  your  house,  you  expect  and  accept  the

inconveniences it will cause.

There’s  no  way  to  replace  the  old  windows,  tiles,  doors,  or  kitchen

cabinets without making a mess. Repainting your bedroom means that you

have to move furniture to another room. Giving your bathroom a makeover

means that you’ll have to use a different bathroom or go to a friend’s house

to take a shower.

You accept the disturbance that remodeling causes in your life because

you want your house to be nice and cozy. Likewise, if you want to change

something in your life, in order for the old to go, there also must be some

mess involved in the process of replacing it with the new.

You might feel cranky upon waking up earlier than usual. You might

be exhausted after the first several workouts. You might despair while you

are trying to figure out how to learn a new skill.

Whenever you feel this way and feel tempted to give up, frustrated by

how  inconvenient  the  process  of  change  is  for  you,  remember  that  to  go

from  worse  to  better,  some  minor  (and  sometimes  major)  annoyances  are

par for the course. Get over it and get on with your life!

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