Self-denial is the act of giving up something that you want or desire, either for the sake of others or for your own good. It can be a difficult thing to do, but it can also be a rewarding one. There are many different reasons why people might practice self-denial. Some people do it for religious reasons, believing that it is a way to please God. Others do it for moral reasons, believing that it is the right thing to do.
Still, others do it for personal reasons, believing that it will help them to achieve their goals or to become better people. In fact, self-denial can be a powerful tool for personal growth. When we learn to deny ourselves our desires, we become more disciplined and more focused. We also learn to appreciate the things that we do have, and we become more grateful for the people in our lives.
Of course, self-denial isn't always easy. It can be tough to say no to things that we want. But if we can learn to overcome our cravings, we can reap its benefits and that's why I believe self-denial works hand in hand with self-discipline because it's one thing to deny yourself from certain things but it's a totally different situation to stay away from those things and that's where self-discipline comes into play.
Personal experiences
As a student in Nigeria, I'm no stranger to self-denial because there have been several situations where I have had to deny myself from certain things just so that I can focus more on my topmost priority which is education. A typical example is my final year project which is currently gulping the majority of my savings. There are certain things I want to do which will require some money but instead, I'm ignoring them just so I can channel the money needed into my project.
One of them is my phone's screen. I need around 25,000 naira ($31) to get a new one as the current one is broken (shattered is probably the right word) but I'm always telling myself "Don't worry, you can do that when you have graduated from the university". Another one is my laptop's battery. The current one doesn't even last up to 10 minutes but I usually use the same line of thought I use for my phone's screen.
But the greatest self-denial I did was back in 2020. It was during the COVID-19 lockdown and I have been home for months basically playing games, watching movies, spending an absurd amount of time on WhatsApp, and doing graphics design jobs (which I wasn't even taking seriously). Then one day, I decided to start learning programming and things were going slowly at first because I wasn't fully focused on it; I was still getting distracted by WhatsApp.
So, what did I do? I just woke up one morning and after replying to messages, I froze WhatsApp. My phone has an app freezer, so it was easy to freeze WhatsApp. After that, my focus and dedication went sky-high. Programming was basically what I was doing from morning till night. I spent over 12 hours every day taking tutorials online and practicing and I was glad I cut off WhatsApp.
The funny thing was that the WhatsApp I froze was even helping me to earn morning because that was where I was getting clients who needed logos and e-flyers. I was also in a WhatsApp group where we share ideas on how to make money online and I got a lot of opportunities from that group but when it was time to freeze WhatsApp, I didn't even hesitate, I knew it was the right path to take.
My WhatsApp remained frozen for several months and I only unfroze it when schools reopened after the covid-19 situation and that's because I need to be getting frequent updates from my class WhatsApp group. Besides that, I was no longer fully focused on programming because of the resumption of school activities, so there was no point in keeping WhatsApp frozen.
As I stated earlier, self-denial can be very rewarding and the above story is a proof of that. By denying myself access to WhatsApp and all the little benefits I get from it, I was able to be more active and productive in other areas of my life, specifically self-development (learning a skill). It wasn't easy at first but it got better when I started seeing the rewards of that decision
Thanks for reading
Connect with me on:
Twitter: @kushyzeena
Readcash: @kushyzee
Edited with Canva
First image: Image by wayhomestudio on Freepik
Second image: Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik