I have been in the army for more than three months now, so it’s time to bring up the topic of how I practiced, am practicing, and plan to practice self-discipline in the army.
At least in my case, self-discipline comes from values. That is, you have certain values, you try to stick to them, and for this you need to practice self-discipline.
Even when I was just joining the army, I already knew a little bit about where I was going, so I set two rules for myself: 1) don’t start smoking, and 2) don’t start swearing. With the first one, thank God, everything is quite simple. I didn’t smoke and I’m not going to start.
But with the second one… Once I shared this rule with my brothers-in-arms and they just laughed. Yes, it seems that everyone in the army swears. The frequency varies. Some people swear all the time. Others swear much less. For example, we have a woman who deals with civil-military issues. She is a very kind and well-mannered person. And recently, I heard her swear, but it was the first time in three months.
Just so you understand, I didn’t swear at all before the army (well, starting at age 21, when I grew up a bit). But in the army, when a stressful situation arises, emotions boil over and… Well, there’s still work to be done on that point.
Another point arose during my service. I have already touched on it in previous articles. It is not to get hooked on energy drinks. They are a very popular drink in the army. Some people drink them at any time of the day. There was a time when I was addicted to them for a short period. But then I got scared and kicked the habit.
The next point came up relatively recently. And it is probably the most interesting one. In the army, probably due to the difficult and harsh atmosphere, heavy workloads, and stress, a certain politeness towards each other is greatly reduced. Words such as “please,” “thank you,” and even “good day” are heard much less often here.
Yes, of course, I understand that in certain critical situations, everything must be done very quickly, and there is no time for rules of etiquette. But when this gradually spills over into everyday army life, it leads to bad consequences.
There is already very little warmth and kindness in the army. And this is understandable, because people are constantly dying here. But on the other hand, as I have noticed, words such as “please,” “well done,” and “thank you” become quite valuable.
I saw for myself how it annoyed me when my colleagues wrote just two words: ‘print’ and “bring.” That’s how someone wrote to me, for example, when they needed something printed and then brought in. It would sound completely different if the person had written “Hi Sergey,” “print this and bring it, please.”
So I decided to control myself as much as possible and write these simple but important words. To be honest, when everything is boiling and I’m stressed out because I have 2-3 things to do at the same time, it’s not very easy to write or say these words. But at other times, I try to do it and feel that it has a certain value.
In the army, there is often a lack of emotional warmth, so we must try to generate it.
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