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Hmm. The way I see it, self control is not a switch that is flipped on or off, it's definitely more like a spectrum of some kind, and generally I think having more of it is always going to be an improvement. Can't attest to whether or not this particular article's advice is actually useful; explanation hits me as a bit pop-sci but even if there were no scientific reason it should work, I bet it still helps in a sort-of placebo way. But I digress. If I want to lose weight, I know "going on a diet" is not how it works. You need lifestyle changes that you keep. You need to change your relationship with food, exercise, and have some self-restraint to continue to make better choices and hold yourself to them. But that does require deciding that you should "lose weight" or perhaps "eat healthier". On the other hand, if you decide that two beers every so often is OK with you, well, of course, everyone is pretty much entitled to decide that for themselves. But maybe to some degree, self-discipline is also partly not letting oneself make excuses for their own pointlessly harmful (even if only a tiny bit at once) behaviors that they'd probably ultimately be better off without. It's easy, since well, all of us, including me, do this sort of thing all the time: we're only human, after all. That said, there's obviously no objectively correct answer, it's definitely not that simple. Nobody orients their lives around just what is "healthier" or "safer" because that would be boring and depressing, no doubt about it. But to the point about alcohol, I don't really drink anymore and even though I never had a drinking problem, I just don't really miss it. It never really did a ton for me, I mostly am just dumber when drunk. I'd prefer to be in control of my state of mind for the most part, so I don't generally have interest in drugs that impair your state of mind much. Not to mention, alcohol is probably not good for you in moderation after all anyways, so eh. I feel that it's pretty likely that people need to hear different things at different phases of life, though, and this is just what I feel like I need with where I'm at now. Maybe I'll have to throw it all out later :) |