You can't choose what happens to you. You can only control how you react to it. Most of life's great battles take place between your ears.
You have to decide what do you want NOW vs what you want MOST. Most likely what you want now is for short term gratification and isn't the best for your long term goals.
Do not wait until you are in the midst of temptation. Avoid it with pre-planning. If it were easy, everyone would do it.
We are conditioned to take the path of least resistance.
And just think how lucky you are that you have the privilege of making that choice. You have the tools available to you to make an educated decision and reach for the thing you want.
So then why do we sometimes see our future goals as a demand?
Demands makes us see the choice as an “obligation” which cause most to revolt. It is human nature- the human character is programmed to reject demands.
You start to reject the conformity of a box until you truly value the box for what it is. You can choose to see the box as “protection” to keep valuable things in instead of walls for keeping things out. Then when you have the things you want (or achieve the successes you pursue) you can keep them. "I have protective boundaries and this box is strategic for what I want to maintain." That is the difference.
Its a choice not a punishment.
