Instant Gratification



Instant gratification. It's instant, and it's gratification. But is it REALLY gratifying? Or does it move you further away from the things you really want in life? Here's a short list of some instant gratifications:
Coffee
TV
Short-term relationships
Sweets
Junk food of any kind
videos
social media
alcohol

If I asked you to, could you tell me over the past week how much junk food you ate? How many hours you spent on social media, or watching videos? Maybe, maybe not. Many of us do these things so often, and without giving them much thought, and we really don't pay attention to how much these things fill up our lives.

The reason I'm writing this article, is to tell you something you already know. Instant gratification will not make your life better. Instant gratifications are a very short-cut way to feel good. “I may be sad that I'm not in a happy relationship, but at least I can watch a movie about a happy couple!” or “I might feel sad that I'm overweight, and not following my dreams, but this piece of cake will make me happy for a few minutes!” They are ways to get to a feeling fast. Unfortunately, most instant gratifications will only get us further away from the things that will make us happy in the long run. I'm not saying it's wrong to have some sweets at a birthday, or once in a while. But doing these things all the time, in place of other things that are going to make life better-well that's not good at all.

Years ago, I was working as a waitress. I decided to go on a diet, no sweets (which I was highly addicted to). I realized that every time a customer upset me, I was turning around to take a bite of something sweet. I had no idea I was doing this! For some reason, the feeling of having a little tiny taste of something sweet was comforting to me. I would ask you to look for the same in your life. Is there anything you're avoiding? Anything that you choose to cover up by eating, drinking or watching?

Continually hitting the instant gratification button, is how to avoid what is really, truly bothering us. Eating those sweets, was a way to feel better instantly rather than working on my assertiveness and my feelings, which is what would make my life happier and better in the long run.

I'm not writing this to ask you to stop and replace all of the things you are doing to instantly gratify yourself. But I will ask you to do this-one time today, instead of reaching for a sweet, a beer, facebook. I ask that you instead, think about the top thing that's on your mind. The top thing you wish was better, want to be better, and take one small, bite-sized step. You tell your partner you want to go to counseling, you ask your boss for a day off, or look into which gym you're going to get a membership from. Okay, so some of those are bigger bites. I don't know what is on your heart to make better in your life. But now is the time to do it. So, go out there. DO the things that are going to TRULY make you happy, don't just put a band aid on the problem for a few minutes. You got this!


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