“Patience is bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” -Aristotle
Nature naturally displays this all important principle. A farmer must plant the seeds and wait for it to grow and bare fruit. This is the same for humans. You must be willing to delay your gratification. Let’s demonstrate this principal in one of the easiest and most relevant ways I know how to. Buying verse renting a home…
Now with anything worth attaining there is going to be a level of sacrifice. In the case of renting vs buying a home a multitude of sacrifices must be made! Speaking from my own experience, one of my greatest mistakes early on was forcing my way out of my parents house to go and rent a space of my own. If you must know I did this because I didn’t want to follow “their treacherous rules.” Wash the dishes, keep your room clean, no friends over passed 8 pm etc. So for immediate gratification purposes I forced my way own to do my own thing. Now don’t get me wrong, I learned A LOT being out on my own. It was a necessary experience in its own right but had I delayed the gratification in my earlier years, I’d probably own several houses today, and be living a lot more comfortable for it.
Anyways there I was, an 18 year old with his own pad and no one to tell me what to do. I had “friends” over, threw parties almost daily, drank smoked, the whole nine. I was “living my best life”. Now I couldn’t see it at the time, but what I was really doing was paying somebody else’s expenses at the expense of myself. I had no savings and was working towards up keeping such a simple, frivolous lifestyle. Nothing was being accomplished from this and I actually made it harder on myself to achieve anything that would let me experience life in a better way. That’s when it finally hit me.. Why couldn’t I sacrifice my urgent and unnecessary wants in the short term for MUCH greater needs in the long run?
I wanted something I didn’t deserve or work for. I wanted freedom for the sake of it. Not knowing that what I was doing was actually walking into a trap. Had I sacrificed and followed my parents rules for a bit and came up with a plan to get out when I was financially ready I could’ve bought a house instead. I heard you can’t want something if you don’t know it exists. What I didn’t know existed in this case was the real freedom offered only to someone by ownership. Sure before I knew this I would’ve told you “I’m happy renting..” In all reality I’m happy my mind expanded.
So with that I say, delay your gratification. Try not to buy one chocolate bar for $2.00 when you can buy a pack of 40 for $25.00. try not to take all the mystery out of the dating process by copulating on the first date, try giving yourself a long term chance at sustained success. All instant gratification does for any of us is keep us prisoners of the here and now, with an underdeveloped notion of the bigger picture. Thanks for reading. Comment if this helped at all!
