Time and again, we need to pause and look at our daily lives.
How much of your hours do you spend on instant gratification?
Are we doing things that are only serving our immediate thrill and pleasure or are we doing something that will be beneficial to us in the long run?
Are you doing things that your future self will thank you for?
In this age that we’re living in, the culture of instant gratification is rampant.
I feel that following our dreams and pursuing our heart’s calling is 10 times harder now than it was for people 10 years or 20 years earlier.
There are just too many avenues for seeking instant gratification- to get that immediate thrill and satisfaction instantly- eating junk food, impulse buying, checking social media, binge-watching shows, gaming all night, online shopping and so on.
Because our satisfaction, dopamine is instantly served through these modes of instant gratification, we forget the real things that make us happy.
That’s why we’re so distracted when it comes to seeking what we truly want and who we truly want to be in life.
We have been trapped in the culture of wanting immediate results and immediate satisfaction.
This is also why the collective consciousness and the collective wellness of the people living on this Earth today is so poor. Because the people are all being distracted by instant gratification.
It’s like we’re given foolish toys to play with just so we won’t go after our heart’s truest desires.
But building a life you love cannot happen instantly.
Having a peaceful mental health doesn’t happen overnight.
You need to give it time, care and focus day after day love yourself, speak kindly to yourself and work on your goals day after day.
The first step is to be aware of this culture of instant gratification in your daily life.
The next step is to go against it in little ways every day.
If you feel like watching Netflix instead of working on something you’ve been putting off, it’s time to be aware of it and go against this immediate gratification.
The more you go against the culture of instant gratification, the more you go against the little excitement and thrill that you get only for some time in the present and the more you will be strong enough to work on your goals.
Slowly you will also build confidence in yourself and your trust in yourself will return.
But the next problem is…
Even when we set out to reach our goals, we focus too much on the destination and get too eager for perfection.
So when we realise that it is going to take a long time, it overwhelms us and makes us want to give up altogether.
This focus and glorification on the end result perhaps has grown ever stronger since the advance of social media where everyone seems to glorify what they have and what they do with little mention about how they have been able to get there. (With the exceptions of only a few who really share their entire journey)
Our brains are always focusing on the result and instead of inspiring us, it begins to overwhelm us.
“When will I reach that stage?”
“When will I have that?”
“It’s going to take a long time!”
“When will I be that perfect?”
So if you want to be better, the greatest thing you can do for your growth is to simply allow yourself to go slow.
In the past, there were many things I started and many things I gave up midway.
Now reflecting upon the reason I realise it was because my thoughts were always centred upon the end result.
Constantly thinking about how long it was going to take me to reach there, I gave up altogether.
But what if we didn’t focus on the end result at all?
There would be no need to rush. You would then only simply enjoy the process and notice the little changes that take place slowly.
Embracing slow growth deliberately does this.
I have now stopped focusing on the end result.
It will come when it will come. Meanwhile, I will only focus on the process, on the system that will help me reach where I want to.
So here I want to remind you to embrace slow growth in your journey of life and be aware of the culture of instant gratification whenever it tries to lure you.
Here is what happens when you embrace slow growth:
1. Slow growth allows you to be a beginner
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We often don’t even try something new or even if we do we constantly fear it won’t be ‘the best’. Aiming for perfection we don’t allow ourselves to be a beginner and nothing stalls our progress more than this constant imagination of ‘the best’.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong in thinking about being ‘the best’, we all want to be.. but don’t let it stop you from doing and trying out your good
Your good is as good as best and I want to remind you that the good that you do in reality is far more superior than the perfect you conceive in your head.
Always remember, ‘Done is better than perfect’
2. Slow growth allows you to expand, make mistakes and learn
We think we need to have everything figured out, that we need to know everything from the beginning, do everything the best way and start applying right away but we won’t ever learn if we don’t make mistakes.
I know this might be the most cliche line told. Everybody knows this. But do we keep this in mind?
When we don’t allow ourselves to make mistakes and try to go by all the rules and try to do everything the way it should go or has to go, don’t you think we are constraining ourselves? We limit ourselves from learning more, from seeing what might happen if we do something and if we don’t.
But when you embrace slow growth, you don’t fix yourselves to a time limit. There is no time limit. As you start going by this attitude, you will inevitably make mistakes, but that’s how you will grow, learn and expand.
3. Slow growth allows you to trust yourself
With slow growth, because you stop rushing, because you stop fixing your eyes on the end result because you focus more on the process, it allows you to grow and you begin to trust yourself more.
Because you give yourself ample time, you become kind towards yourself and your journey. You are not impatient. You know you will get there. You trust yourself enough. You embrace slow growth because you trust yourself and because you trust yourself, you embrace slow growth.
4. Slow growth allows you to enjoy the journey
Lastly, slow growth allows us to do something we tend to entirely miss out on, that is, embrace the journey. By embracing slow growth, however, by not focusing on the result, by not limiting yourself to a time limit, you instead focus on the process, on the journey.
When you embrace slow growth you allow yourself to experiment, to learn, to not be hard on yourself and you remove unnecessary pressure. So just keep going and embrace the journey. Take photos maybe and note down your struggles, your learnings, your successes and failures. They will all be your invaluable assets when you get there.
It doesn’t matter how fast you reach where you want to go, what matters is what you have learned along the way.
And lastly, like Miley says in her song, ‘the climb’
There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb
P.S This was a part from my Mindful Monday Newsletter. If you liked what you read and want to receive my updates, join below. It would be wonderful to have you ❤️
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