In A Rush For The Next Moment

Instant Gratification; A God Awful Trait

It’s a character defect so many of us have. Yet so many of us, probably barely notice it among ourselves. I am just as guilty as most others. Many of us who live our lives with a need for instant results, can likely admit it, when we stop for a moment and think about it.

For the rest of us, who don’t believe we live this way, are probably just as guilty as the ones who can admit it. It can’t be denied. Face it. Everything you want, you want now.

To find out the truth, take a quiz. If you could choose to have results for, basically anything. Would you choose to have results in 3 weeks. Or would you instead want it in 3 hours. If you answer 3 weeks, our next move, should be a lie detector test. So let’s look at Instant Gratification.

One of the first philosophies about with instant gratification, is that it’s something that we seem to succumb in our decision making, as we “jump the gun” choosing what is fastest, not what is best.

I don’t need a rocket science to figure out fastest definitely does not always mean best. With things faster may come flaws, errors, mistakes all culminating from a lack of attention to detail.

Afterall, how many times can we remember to when we were kids taking big tests in school, we would be told by teachers or parents, “take your time, don’t try to speed through the test, think about each question and answer” and similar things in nature.

Etched into our minds now as we’re grown, yet we still ain’t learned the concept yet.

I learned a lot about instant gratification from being in active addiction, and now in sobriety. Addiction is a life that is strongly, and constantly one surrounded by instant gratification.

When we are getting high, we are instantly numbing our brain, and leaving our world of worries and responsibilities. If we are sick and in withdrawal, it’s our drugs of choice that can instantly gratify us.

Meanwhile let’s keep a certain thing in mind, with these examples. Nowhere in the examples, do we see anything actually positive coming from instant gratification. Once we remove away a paper like thin shell, we can quickly see that escaping and numbing is nothing that can be considered positive.

I can’t quite place the reasons that have developed into this seemingly hate, dread, and fear of patience. The thought of waiting, turns our stomach into knots.

I read a great quote from A Fine Parent, which was, “don’t give up what you want MOST, for what your want NOW.” That statement there puts so much into perspective. It’s easy to understand, and the quote branches out in multiple directions.

For instance, many of us learn growing up, through our different experiences, that something earned through hard work, and dedication has much more worth than something that is handed to us. Truthfully, sometimes we may not like that fact. However it still is a fact nonetheless.

Spoil your children with silver and gold spoons, from toddler, through high school, you may learn the hard way that you didn’t do the kids any favors. Just ask yourself, would you rather your child get a report card of straight A’s, earned only through cheating? Or would you prefer your child to earn a couple C’s, a couple B’s and one A through hard work, paying attention, and studying?

Another meaning I find with that quote from the A Fine Parent website, is the fact that truth be told, it can’t really be argued that things we really do want from the heart, are usually things that take do take time to obtain and achieve.

Time frames can vary greatly, and it doesn’t always mean that the longer the wait the better. What it does mean, is whatever time it take to wholeheartedly earn something is time that was spent making sacrifices, learning many lessons, obtaining knowledge, learning work ethic, studying hard, and doing the right thing, the right way.

So, it’s usually true that things that we earn from the groundwork up, tend to have a better meaning to us. It gives things a better sense of value, and the hard work it took, makes the results that much more special to us.

Instant gratification is certainly changing many aspects of the social world. I will admit, that there are many great things that come from having things like smart phones, smart watches, tablets, etc etc. We can take advantage of things like GPS, with directions, as well as traffic reports, and accidents. Knowledge is also at our fingertips.

I doubt I’m the only one who can appreciate and love the nostalgia of opening up an Encyclopedia Britannica, or a Collier’s Encyclopedia. But, those book versions of today’s Google, only could print so much information in a book. Plus, books could only keep up with the changing times oh so fast.

With all of that instant information, seems to come a lessening of social worlds. Even with all the social media today, facebook, twitter, instagram etc etc. I learned a long time ago that those worlds can tend to lean towards being fictional, or a bit of an illusion.

We can become anyone we dream of on facebook. We can make beautiful photos no matter what our flaws really are. We can be successful, rich, great with the ladies, and all around wonderful there.

Anything’s possible when we’re not having a face to face conversation. I always loved text messaging, but now, it seems to have overtaken phone calls. Nobody answers the phone anymore. They won’t answer your call, but then a minute later send a text saying, “hey what’s up, you called?”

So, how can we stop speeding into the future becoming less and less social. Will we ever be able to look out of our windows anymore and see kids playing outside? I think there’s nothing worse than a instant gratified kid. Because they don’t know how many incredible things and experiences they are missing.

They losing and missing out on the value of the concept of time to earn and learn.

It’s a great feeling obtaining something in which we started working on getting many months, or many years ago. As we move through our days doing the work that is needed, we are slowly, day by day learning about patience and value. We’d rather be that person. If we were a child of golden spoons, spoiling, and handouts, would we want to hang out with that version of us?

Thoughts are there for the thinking…..

MICHAEL PATANELLA