Lessons learned from PBS mini-series.

I have just discovered Downton Abbey and am in agreement with all the fawning reviews I have been reading.  It is fascinating, watching a social system that does not exist any longer, and the contrasts between the upstairs and the downstairs.  The characters are wonderfully drawn and shaded and I’m hooked on the plot.  But this is not a fawning essay about a PBS show, it is an essay about discipline.

Watching the special features that accompany the DVD, I was struck by someone’s comment that the life both the servants and their employers lead takes a lot of discipline—and not imposed from above, but self-discipline.  Self-discipline is something I feel I could use more of, in more areas of my life and it’s interesting that it doesn’t seem to be in vogue.

I think when we do mention discipline, it is in relation to diet and exercise.  We are to be disciplined eaters—firmly pushing away whatever food is “bad” for us and regimentally heading out of doors for our daily—mostly punishing—exercises to keep us toned and fit.  I think discipline in this context is why we are nation of fat people.  It’s just so grim, and there are so many other enticing offers—say a season of Downton Abby on DVD complete with extras and a bowl of popcorn—that it is easy to throw that discipline out the window.

To me, discipline means setting up a routine that works for you, and then doing it.  I’m pretty good at this at work: the checks get written on Monday and Wednesday, Tuesday is for data entry, Thursday I do the lunch order and manage the lunch program and Friday I clean out the staff refrigerator.  I don’t always feel like doing these tasks, but they all (except for the refrigerator, which I notice I abandon around February every year) get done and I feel the better for it. 

Home is another matter.  Home is entirely ruled by the whiny, sullen teenager, especially of late.  “But I don’t wannnnnnttttt to do that,” the lazy teenager whines when it is time to cook, to clean, to shop.  The lazy teenager wants to spend her life in bed, reading books, watching movies and the occasional worthy TV series.  The problem is that if the teenager takes over, there is no one to procure the food, cook and clean the house as well as plant the garden and do all those other things that make life worth living.  So the lazy teenager finds herself jangly from lack of exercise, living in filth and with an empty refrigerator.

I think this is one of the tasks of adult life.  Finding a way to get things done so you can live in comfort with a sense of accomplishment as well as time for rest and leisure.  It’s a difficult task, at least for me.  It’s also probably one of the reasons there are so many self-help books on the market.