Discipline equals freedom
Photo by Rikard Öqvist
The sun painted everything golden all the way to the horizon. As far as the eye could see, there was ice. My son Elis was riding his Stiga Snow Racer pulled by our dog Jussi. The three of us were on a round trip on the ice around a nearby island, with the sea as a backdrop. That morning, my son woke up at 05:44 which had interrupted my morning routine. But what an interruption! It was one of those mornings that you only get a handful of throughout a lifetime.
The story starts the day before. I love the motto by Jocko Willinck “Discipline equals freedom”. I have been working very long hours for the past two weeks and I was not even close to finishing my never-ending to do-list. But last Wednesday we were blessed with a magical spring day. Sunny, clear blue sky and with a temperature just below zero. It really doesn’t get any better in the North of Sweden than this. When these days arrive while you are on duty working there’s usually not much you can do. This Wednesday was no exception. I definitely did not have the time to go outdoors. But there’s probably some ancient Chinese saying that when you don’t have the time to take a five-minute break, you should take a ten-minute break. Because that’s when you need it the most. In this case, I considered that principle and Jocko’s motto and decided that since I had been pushing >9 hours per day for two weeks, I had earned the right to enjoy this beautiful moment. So, I told my wife who had been frustrated about not going outdoors during these wonderful winter days that we need to take a break and go out, I saw a big smile break out. She instantly went to our storage and grabbed our old Segerbaden sled and the dog shackles, mounted it sled to our dog Jussi and put some clothes on our baby Isak and installed him in the dog sled. And off we went.
There’s an island close to where we live, that I have seen every day for the past couple of years, but I hadn’t been there yet. We decided to go on a round trip around the island on the ice. I was blown away by the out-of-this-world beauty that presented itself once we got out to the point where there was only the horizon and us. It looked like another planet. How amazing that this view had been here all the time, just a couple of minutes walk on the ice from my home. And I hadn’t seen it until now. I was also sad, because I wanted Elis to be with us too, but he was at kindergarten and there was not enough time to go and get him. I missed him so bad on our wonderful trip.
But as I mentioned in the introduction, everything was rectified on Wednesday when he woke up so early. I did the math and knew what I had to do. We had breakfast and got ready as fast as humanly possible so we wouldn’t miss the golden hour. The only difference was that Elis got to ride on his favorite snow racer behind the dog instead of the sled. Honestly, I would have preferred the Snow Racer over the sled too had I been small enough to ride either of them. What a blessing it was to start a day like this. I am grateful beyond words. For two days in a row, I had seized the moment and done the right thing.
You never have opportunities. You take them. Moments like the two described above are exceptionally rare. Extremely rare! There are so many things that must align for anything even close to materialize. And you cannot do them later. You must act instantly. That’s where Jocko’s motto is proven. If I hadn’t been working so hard for a long time, it would not have been an option to go outdoors. My discipline gave me the freedom to act and risk an extended lunch break.
At the time of this writing, the following Monday less than a week later, we now have open water. Consequently, the scenic route is gone for this year. Next year around march, I will be even more disciplined. And free.