The Importance of Self Control

STEP BY STEP:
THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF CONTROL
By
Joshua A. Christianson
May 6, 2014
English Literature
Professor Audrey Rindlisbacher

Somewhere in the world right now a college student is working through the night to prepare for a
test, his weary eyes drooping as he remembers that his scholarship hangs on this one last final.
Meanwhile, a freshman is struggling against all the stress in her new life at school, and as it continues
to build dark voices in her head begin to whisper words of failure and worthlessness which stab at her
heart like knives. A high school senior at this very moment is coming face to face with the dangerous
temptation of college debt, a monster which has viciously mutilated the hopes and dreams of countless
people, and whether they prevail against it or not will critically affect much of their future. Maybe you
haven't had these same experiences, but at some point in your life you will need what these students
need now: self control. It is only a matter of when. Are you ready for that moment?
When entering adulthood, it is incredibly important for people to take control of their lives. The
protection and guidance of parents during childhood slowly fades away during college, replaced instead
with a life of responsibilities and choices. During that critical in-between period control of our lives is
at last put in our own hands, but whether we retain it or not is entirely up to us. People surrender it
quite often, in fact. The media have facts, businesses have money, political parties have understanding,
entertainment has feeling, and governments have power; give your allegiance to them and they'll give
you what they have in order to help you understand what really matters. With their help you will live a
peaceful, fulfilling life. Or, at least, that's what they claim.
These institutions and organizations can of course help people, but to give control of any aspect of
yourself to something or someone else is dangerous and harmful to both you and others. You alone
must judge what is true and false to be secure in your beliefs. Only you can understand what makes you
happy and then pursue it. Nobody else will ever govern your life as well as you can. For life to be
worth living people must control themselves, and any idea which says otherwise is evil. Self control is
better than control by others, and if people mastered themselves the world would be a better place.
Before leaving school to take their places as full adults it is essential that every college student
understand why self control is better than control by others, and how self-mastery would make the
world a better place.
LIBERATE THE MIND
“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal
quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to
think.”- Martin Luther King Jr., Civil Rights Activist1
If you ever find yourself tempted to rely on someone else to pass a test, remember the story of
Shakespeare's Othello. Iago, the villain of the play, is a manipulative psychopath who tricks his general
into demoting a friend, staging a murder, and killing an innocent woman.2
What is so horrible about
Iago is that he is not often directly involved with his crimes; he accomplishes his deeds through ideas,
thoughts and words which infect the minds of others. Othello, the man Iago tricked, was not stupid or
blind. On the contrary, he was a brilliant general and a courageous tactician, so great that his skills
overcame the racial prejudices against him in Venice. He was also virtuous; adored, respected and
trusted by everyone who knew him, he was even good enough to win the hand of the pure
Desdemona… And yet he destroyed everything he cared about in his life because he let his mind be
guided by another man. This is the danger of ignorance, for it can create suffering just as easily as bliss.
Men can choose to think nothing, that is their right, but if they do, then they become pawns in life, not
players. The story of Othello is perhaps the best warning to those who do not guard their minds. You
need to control your thinking; otherwise people will be quite happy to control it for you.
Mental freedom will do more than protect you from the manipulators of the world, though; it will
bring you success. Harry S. Truman said, “In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first
victory they won was over themselves… self-discipline with all of them came first.”3
Benjamin

Franklin in the 18th
century had a mere two years of formal schooling and ran away at 17, but because
he forced himself to be virtuous and relentlessly searched for knowledge, he became one of the most
brilliant men of his day. Frederick Douglass in the 19th
century escaped from a life of slavery to become
one of the most educated, and well respected men in history through mental discipline. In the 20th
century Mother Teresa came from a fatherless home and led the simple life of a nun, but through her
powerful acts of selflessness she helped countless people, won the Nobel Peace Prize and became a
household name. You can even say that President Barrack Obama, whatever you may think of him,
dragged himself up out of a poor and dysfunctional family, through college, and into the highest office
in the land by utilizing sheer will power.
A thousand books have been written to explain how these people became successful, but what they
all share in common is that they governed their own minds. Information did not go into their heads and
come out of their mouths unnoticed or unchanged. The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius hit on this
element of successful men and women when he said, “You have power over your mind - not outside
events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”4
Govern your mind and control your life.
CONTROL EMOTION
If your emotional abilities aren't in hand, if you don't have self-awareness, if you are not able to
manage your distressing emotions… then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very
far.
-Daniel Goleman, Psychologist5
For a children's movie The Lion King is incredibly dark and emotional, and from an adult's
perspective it can teach people why it is so import to control emotions. Not only does the main
character see his father die, he holds himself responsible for it. Simba's desperate attempts to wake his
lifeless father still brings tears to many eyes, and when he runs from his pain, from his past, nobody can
blame him for it. Would anyone really have handled it differently? Our daily lives are filled with the
stress of work, school and relationships, and having to deal with it holds us back, especially during
college. Even the best student has been tempted to abandon his studies and embrace “Hakuna Matata,”
but the movie illustrates that people should do exactly the opposite. While emotions are powerful,
mighty enough to banish even a king from his own kingdom, in order to do good things people must
develop the ability to control those feelings. These ideas, lessons and themes are what make The Lion
King a classic, but the movie's source material illustrates the power of emotions even better...
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the titular character’s emotional conflicts are what make him so
fascinating, but they also put him in danger.6
A college student home from school, Hamlet is brilliant
but filled with rage and pain because of his father’s murder, his mother’s hasty marriage and the
failures of those around him. Rather than let those feelings overcome him, though, he uses them to fake
madness and plunge through to a victory over his enemies. The woman Hamlet loved, Ophelia, is an
example of what happens to someone if they lose control: emotions drove her to real insanity,
depression and, in the end, suicide.
The ability to control this aspect of yourself is obviously critical, but while life is full of stress
nobody is being taught how to handle it any more. Current trends in America prove this to be the case.
Depression rates are being called epidemic, and suicide, if it is not rising, is now more prevalent among
young people.7 8 9
For many these problems seem insurmountable, but in reality they can be overcome
and mastered. They can even be turned into strengths.
All of his life Winston Churchill faced what he called his “black dog.”10
“I know why logs split,” he
said one night, gazing upon a fire. “I know what it is to be consumed.”11
But it seems that this was part
of what made him great. He knew how to survive a fight against darkness, so even when he alone was
left to face Hitler, Churchill stood strong against it all. Brilliant, courageous, and a great leader, he

refused to let his inner turmoil cripple him. In the end he not only beat the Nazis but won his inner war
against the feelings of his heart, living to be 90 years old. Churchill is not alone. Charles Dickens,
Abraham Lincoln, Buzz Aldrin, J.K. Rowling and even comedian Jim Carrey all suffered or suffer from
depression. Their lives and hundreds more prove without a doubt that it can be beaten, even used. It is
possible these people would never have become successful if their struggles had not taught them to
master their emotions. Had they let others guide their feelings it is unlikely they would have achieved
so much. Well-disciplined, the heart is always a source of strength, not weakness.
BE FINANCIALLY AND PHYSICALLY SELF RELIANT
A man in debt is so far a slave.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson12
Before accepting a college loan every student should understand a basic truth about currency if they
want to have self-control: money is essentially energy made physical. When you are paid for your labor
the energy of your body or mind is converted into cash, a substance which can be traded. To illustrate, a
restaurant server with an hourly pay of ten dollars who buys of a ten-dollar movie has essentially paid
for it with an hour of serving tables; she merely uses a substance which represents her work to make
the exchange easier. To go into debt, however, is to choose to owe someone your future labor in
exchange for immediate energy or things at your disposal. The only guarantee that people will follow
through on their promises and pay debts is the force of the law. Someone in debt, therefore, is little
better than a slave; they must work for the debtor or else be punished. They no longer have control of
their life because they have sold a part of it to someone else. To be physically free, then, it is critical to
be financially free.
In the book Middlemarch the problem of debt is the biggest issue which both Fred Vincy and
Tertius Lydgate struggle with, and their stories illustrate why everyone should be cautious when taking
out a loan.13
A careless son of the wealthy mayor, Fred is a college dropout with a good heart whose
unbridled spending habits have led to numerous debts. When Fred fails to pay back a debt to the father
of the girl he loves, impoverishing both of them, he wakes up at last to the truth of his situation: his
reckless spending does not just hurt him; it also hurts the people he loves. While Fred turns his life
around and woos the girl, earning her respect through hard work and perseverance, Lydgate does not
fare as well. A talented doctor and a seemingly better man than Fred, he finds himself falling more and
more deeply into debt to please his wife. Unable to pay his debtors, Lydgate desperately takes out a
loan which ends up tying him to dirty money, damaging his reputation beyond repair and ruining his
livelihood. He is forced to flee town in disgrace. While Fred broke his chains, Lydgate was made a
slave to his wife, his debtors and the public, and that is what kept him from achieving his dreams and
being truly happy.
Sadly, college students today seem to be largely following Lydgate's example. On average, half of
all college students graduate with $29,400 in student loans, and that amount only grows with every
passing year.14
If that does not seem like a lot of money consider the interest applied to that debt over
time; it could take decades to pay it off depending on that factor alone. For some people it haunts them
long after graduation, debt collectors hounding them at all hours of the day.15
In total, American college
students owe over $1 trillion dollars in student loans, and experts say it is even beginning to hurt the
economy.16
Just like with Fred, debt doesn’t hurt solely the individual. Their loved ones will suffer the
most, having less time to spend with them when they’re working so hard to fix their mistake. These
students will have to slave away for years after they graduate to pay off these debts, leaving them with
very little time or energy to pursue their dreams.
This doesn’t have to be anyone’s future. People who haven’t gone into debt yet can still figure out a
way to avoid it in the future, and anyone who has can start now to take it seriously. Plenty of financial

advice exists to help people in debt. Learn for yourself how to make money work; if you trust the banks
and the college financial system with your future it will destroy your life, so take things into your own
hands. Unlike ideas and feelings, money physical and can be handled directly. Currency is the physical
manifestation of the worth of your work. It is by no means easy, but with hard work and a desire to be
free there’s nothing blocking people from achieving financial freedom.
EXERCISE THE SOUL’S FINAL FREEDOM
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
-Unknown but attributed to Victor Frankl, Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor17
It is all well and good to talk about self control, but to the uneducated, depressed and enslaved they
are only words. You know the fate that meets those who lack control and the successes of those who
conquer it, but the question still remains; “How do I do it?” Unfortunately, you will have to discover
that for yourself; every person's life takes them down a unique path, and discipline requires individual
discovery. What can be said is that it takes time to develop self control. You did not become an adult all
at once, but step by step. Gradually, carefully, you were entrusted with greater freedom and further
responsibilities. It is a muscle, and must be exercised. You will stumble and fall, but even when you are
at your lowest point there always lives in you a spark of life which allows you to keep going. The story
of Victor Frankl proves that it exists, so use it. Hopefully no one will ever have to experience again
what he and many others did, but in the darker moments of your life, during and after college, perhaps
his message will remind you not to give up.
Thrown into a concentration camp, Frankl was forced to do hard labor for the Nazi’s. Barely eating,
scarcely sleeping, always working, this psychologist faced things that would break stronger men. Yet in
this horror he discovered the ultimate truth: that you can always choose how you respond. Though
Frankl was treated with great injustice he was not broken by it. He said, “In a position of utter
desolation, when Man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may
consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way– an honorable way– in such a position man can…
achieve fulfillment.” 19
Frankl held on and lived, saved by American soldiers and surviving to share his
discovery with the world. His story shows that even in a man's darkest moments, when he is utterly
enslaved, somewhere deep in his soul the spark of choice lives on. Even Lucifer, the father of lies,
speaks to this truth in Paradise Lost when he says, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a
heaven of hell, a hell of heaven…”20
There is always a choice to be better, to resist every form of
slavery and dependence, to love family, friends and strangers. At no point are you a complete victim,
for even in the worst of circumstances you can choose to govern thought, feeling and action. And with
that knowledge you can accomplish anything.
CONCLUSION
Franklin, Douglass, Mother Teresa and Obama all worked hard to establish in their minds a firm
faith in what they believed in, but maintained a deep level of self-awareness, something Othello never
did. Duty gave Churchill and Hamlet something to live for, disciplining their hearts in a way the
directionless Ophelia never experienced. Fred pulled himself out of a life of debt with hard work, the
help of good friends and unwavering love, something students today can learn from. Victor Frankl
survived the worst of circumstances, and what he learned in the horrors of Nazi Germany can just as
easily be applied to the sometimes bleak circumstances of college life. Through them people can learn
to live a life of faith, self-awareness, duty, hard work, friendship and love, knowing those will help
them be better individuals.

Go and find out who you are and who you want to be. Learn however you can, in college and after,
and you will find how fulfilling your life can be when you take control. Your studies will show you
how you can do so like the great men and women of the past and the heroes of classical literature. The
power to do it is inside you, and if you really want to do what is best for yourself and those you love
then start. Just start. You cannot know where the road will take you, but that’s alright. You only need to
see where next to put your feet.

Bibliography
1. "Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes." The Official MLK Day of Service Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb.
2014.
2. Lowers, James K. Othello, Complete Study Edition: Commentary, Complete Text, Glossary. N.p.: Cliffs
Notes, 1968. Print.
3. "You Have Power over Your Mind..." Goodreads. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
4. "Thoughts On the Business of Life." Thoughts and Quotes: Knowledge Comes, But...Forbes, n.d. Web.
24 Feb. 2014.
5. "Daniel Goleman Quote." Brainy Quote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
6. Shakespeare, William, and Sidney Lamb. Hamlet: Complete Study Edition, Commentary, Complete Text,
Glossary. Lincoln, Neb.: Cliff's Notes, 1967. Print.
7. Iliades, Chris. "Stats and Facts About Depression in America." EverydayHealth.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24
Feb. 2014.
8. Parker-pope, Tara. "Suicide Rates Rise Sharply in U.S." The New York Times. The New York Times, 02
May 2013. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
9. "Suicide Is More Common than in the past." - 15 Myths and Facts About Suicide and Depression. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
10. "NAMI - The National Alliance on Mental Illness." NAMI. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
11. "A Point of View: Churchill, Chance and the 'black Dog'" BBC News. BBC, 23 Sept. 2011. Web. 24 Feb.
2014.
12. "Ralph Waldo Emerson Quote." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
13. Eliot, George. Middlemarch. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1966. Print.
14. Ellis, Blake. "Average Student Loan Debt: $29,400." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 04 Dec. 2013.
Web. 01 May 2014.
15. Cohn, Scott. "The Debt That Won't Go Away." CNBC.com. N.p., 20 Dec. 2010. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
16. Features, Forbes Special. "How The $1.2 Trillion College Debt Crisis Is Crippling Students, Parents and
The Economy." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 07 Aug. 2013. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
17. Snyder, Steven. "The Space Between Stimulus and Response." Snyder Leadership Group RSS. N.p., n.d.
Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
18. Frankl, Viktor E. Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy. Boston: Beacon, 1992.
Print.
19. Ibid.
20. Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2005. Print.

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