There's obviously a whole lot I could write about this subject. Maybe about how our culture insists on immediate gratification, or how we can't live if we don't get what we want RIGHT. NOW. Obviously this is a huge problem for my generation and all the generations to come since everything we could ever want is at our fingertips. It's no wonder we find ourselves hopeless, wondering if this is it, and lost in an discontent world. It's such an oxymoron really, you'd think that by gratifying yourself you'd be happier. In the end, you did get what you wanted didn't you? Maybe you wanted that chocolate bar, the latest and greatest gadget, or maybe you wanted another person. Why do we still feel empty, sad.. .incomplete? Why didn't that thing that we thought would fill us up leave us wanting more? It's all the same, it's fleeting. Life is in the journey, not the destination.
On the flip side of the coin, delaying gratification can be a bad thing. This happens when we put off those big things that stay on our to do list. Currently, mine is an article that I've been dragging my feet to write, lesson plans for next week's classes, and mind-boggling website coding. The things we reeeeeallly just don't want to do. Things that bring us misery until they are done, but provide immediate relief once they are. Eventually we will get them done, but for now they will hang over our heads, tormenting our mental health and blemishing our neat and tidy "to do" list. If only we just got it done, it couldn't harm us anymore.
So we do the things we want right now and leave the things we should do for later. We delay our gratification for difficult tasks, but fail to do so otherwise. Why do we have it so wrong?
As many people have said before me, tackling the big hard scary things and then delaying our rewards for later bring much more happiness. It completely baffles me how each and every one of us can be so blind. We don't realize the simplest things like the key to our own happiness and success. all the answers are out there clear as day, we just have to seek them, to trust them, to see with child-like eyes. every problem has it's answer, and I've found the more I focus on God the more clearly I can see. In the end, the things we long for and the things we delay gratification for (or don't delay for) are only things. We can't seek salvation in a cookie. The cookie is only there for our immediate enjoyment. When we put disproportionate honor into small things, these small things can take over our lives and control us. Yes, change is hard, but it's not impossible. Sure that cookie is delicious and might fill you up for an hour or two, but the "cookie" you envied the adults for receiving in mass as a child fills you up for all of eternity.
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