On Pleasure and Self-Control

When people are hesitant to exert self-control over their desires or pleasures it’s sometimes because they feel like any denial of desire is a total denial of pleasure.

In this mindset, to say no to one pleasure is to remove all pleasure from life. That is a false belief.

This fails to see the pleasure discovered in self-control, in mental strength, in the power of choice over impulse.

And it fails to see the long-term pleasure produced from these applications of discipline, even when it comes at the cost of denying a short-term pleasure in the moment.

There is more to desire than this thing in this moment. A moment of self-control is sometimes what it takes to unlock a lifetime of pleasure. 

Everything is training for something. Do the work.