Discipline and Dopamine
Discipline in the age of constant distraction is an uphill battle in a war that spares no one. The twentieth century is a sensory overload that is brimmed with so much dopamine, I fear that we as a race have forgotten the raw experience of natural happiness.
Our daily lives consist of a list. Each day a list is scrawled pertaining to the easiest and fastest way to experience the temporary high that is the dopamine rush. For those of you who don’t know — dopamine is the happy hormone, you feel it when your brain is expecting a reward. It’s associated with experiences such as sex, shopping, eating tasty food, or any other activity where you feel pleasure.
You can also experience dopamine from more long-term successes like healthy habits, and victories like acing an exam you studied hard for.
We have so many opportunities at achieving this high that I often wonder if the feeling has been diluted. When you swipe across social media, your brain is expecting a shot of dopamine; seeing a new post or tweet triggers a reward system that leads to that pleasure. Can this high be compared to the high of winning a sport or achieving a goal that you’ve been working on?
The youth is the most persecuted when it comes to the consequences of the saturated intake of dopamine. As a gen-z child myself, my phone is both my greatest alley and most cunning enemy.
I have more access to information and pleasure than I know 99 percent of the world a hundred years ago had. It’s a means for me to feel and experience things I could never have dreamed of. On the same token, that pleasure is addictive. The constant reward without turmoil creates a habit in itself, making me feel as if I deserve this pleasure in contrast to the real pay off’s in life like hard work and dedication.
Discipline is a concept I have only recently fallen in love with. It is the only process that will not betray you despite externalities that could disrupt everything else about your life. It’s the ultimate commitment to yourself. It’s the choice to wake up every morning and love yourself; there’s a certain beauty in it and creates an experience that is unique to each person.
Despite the primal promise that discipline is to yourself, distractions that feel like small victories are its largest competition for your time. Discipline provides a long-term shot of dopamine, the successive habits lead to positive reinforcement, however watching a funny video, sending a selfie to a friend — these are short-term pleasures that keep you from the discipline you try and maintain.
