Instant Gratification: Our Centuries' Achilles' Heel

Throughout the ages our population has survived a number of wildly different epidemics. From smallpox to cholera, an epidemic of various infectious diseases on this human planet is nothing new. But an epidemic can also happen in a variety of forms, it doesn't just have to be a deadly disease. rnFor example, the early eighties stirred a deadly wild epidemic that began on the West Coast (namely Los Angeles and Oakland) which found its way across the United States to the urban jungles of New York and other large metropolitan areas. This epidemic was called crack cocaine, and it showed a very negative effect on the neighborhoods of the United States.rnThe crack epidemic raised incarceration rates to the highest in the world as neighborhoods like South L.A. had new gangs popping up every day (most were incompetent to control a significant portion of the crack cocaine trade). New York was also hit by this epidemic in very visible ways. Crime, violence, and homicide all raised, and at one point, around 70% of all of those arrested would test positive for the drug. Crack itself is not an infectious disease, it is an addictive chemical substance which impoverished neighborhoods around our country have become prisoners to. rnBut while crack use has been declining, a new epidemic has been springing up around our country and even the world. It has nothing to do with drugs or infectious diseases, yet it has everything to do with how it makes us function, which is something all of the epidemics in history have in common.rnThis new endangerment to our society is known as instant gratification, and its most targeted audience are our youngest generations. Yes, those generations that will be guiding the future of the world. There will be some who don't see this as a threat, but simply as a childish stage they'll grow out of. There is nothing further from the truth. Instant gratification isn't something that comes and goes, it is an addiction, one very much like crack cocaine. It swept our nation starting with the youngest prospects, and overnight became a disease that wasn't limited to your age, sex or ethnicity.rnAs technology has become faster and faster throughout the past decade, we have started getting everything accomplished at quicker speeds. We no longer need to go to the store to buy food when we can just order from home and have it delivered to us. Communication was once found in the exchange of letters through the postal service, but it has evolved into something more reliable and infinitely faster: sending mail over the Internet. And after that, electronic mail got "left behind" for faster substitutions like instant messaging and integrated messages, all for the purpose of getting our responses sooner. rnIt's important to understand this: there is nothing wrong with sending and receiving at faster rates, but this constant need to get everything done faster has created a stir of impatience inside of us. We MUST get everything right away, why should we wait for it? Our desire to constantly overuse and abuse these systems has unintentionally heightened our anchors of what is considered "slow".rnSome can argue that instant gratification isn't hurting us in any way. Let's consider this: how has our need for being everywhere at once and filling up our days with busy meetings and schedules affected our diets? How does your nutritional pyramid stack up against others? How many people do you think substitute important nutrients for fast food, simply because they didn't have the time to get something wholesome to eat? rnInstant gratification is hurting more than just your impulse driven wants that create short-term happiness. It is affecting our health as well. Every year the United States spends close to 40 billion dollars on weight-loss products. Most of these come in the forms of pills which you've probably seen on TV at one point or another. We continue to ingest substances that haven't been approved by the FDA, which results in products that don't have proper warning labels on them for possible side-effects. It is guaranteed that the large majority of those who ingest these pills have no idea what is contained inside of them; yet, we continue to take them. Instant gratification has spanned into all aspects of our lives, it has turned us into believers of a quick-fix pill.rnBut let us for a moment imagine that even if all these weight-loss companies are evil and horrible, there might still be another side to consider. rnWhat do we really look for in a weight-loss product? Well, if we really think about it, we're looking for a fix to our problem, and if we think about it for a couple seconds longer we realize that we're actually looking for a "quick" fix to our problem. We're really searching for magic fairy dust when we buy weight-loss products; we're not actually looking for a change of lifestyle. We enjoy sitting on the couch all day stuffing our faces with foods that contain little nutritional value, yet we still want to be ripped. It makes no sense. rnWhat's the worst part? We realize and understand that it makes no sense. Yet very few of us will change based on that very statement. This is what instant gratification creates, friction inside of us. There is a reason why we were given a long lifespan to live, unlike a large population of animals, so that we can live out our lives. We have to shift our mentality from looking for short-term commitments that result in disappointment, to long-term commitments that result in progression and success. Even if that diet pill works, you can ask yourself, how long will this change last for if there are no other changes?rnLong-term SolutionsrnHow can we learn to avoid instant gratification and resist its seductive desires? Well, it starts with realization. We must realize and distinguish instant gratification from wholesome intentions as we live our lives day by day. It won't come right away, but it's not hard to get started. We can't build longevity and prosperity for our lives on top of a foundation of fast food or pills. Once you start catching yourself in instantly gratifying moments, you need to learn to control those impulses. Controlling your impulses doesn't come from you yelling at yourself because you messed up. We all mess up, it happens, but the best way for your mind to learn is by you consciously telling it that you were participating in instant gratification and then by actively stopping it and turning your attention elsewhere. Yelling at yourself will just create a friction inside of your mind that will drive you nuts and crazy as you continue to fail to understand why you keep thinking one thing but doing the opposite.rnSpread the word to your family and friends. In the end, the more people you tell, the more you'll prosper from their achieving wholesome greatness instead of short-term disappointment. They will also become your support block when you have a temptation for short-term gratification. Engage your community and let them know about instant gratification and its dangers. You've become a source of information to those around you, because now you possess it.