A common conversation viewpoint that I've had several times/day is the ability to have delayed gratification. Whether you can see or feel it, most of us have conditioned ourselves to be in pursuit of a daily or instant Dopamine fix. When dopamine is released and we are temporarily "happy."
Bad day? Have a bottle of wine and a big dinner!
Boss is a dick? Hop on social media and scroll away!
Work is killing you? Book a vacation!
Family is stressing you out? Go on a shopping spree!
It seems logical to want to get out of a bad mood or negative space with things that make us "happy." Rather than seeking the fastest way to relieve this temporary stress, if we can delay the instant happy to dig a little deeper to figure why we get triggered in the first place, we can find better inner fulfillment towards our long-term solution.
Think about having a victim or creator mindset in these situations.
The victim will seek a way to feel better.
A creator will find a way to resolve the conflict.
...if you get really good at rewarding your negative life experiences, you are actually subconsciously training yourself to become addicted to your suffering.
Introspective Thoughts
- What have you gotten better at seeing your delayed gratifications?
- Can you go back and look at times when you were the least happy and see the victimhood mindset you may have put yourself in? (I was the poster child victim mentality Covid person, FYI)
- What is something that you want long term that would be beneficial for you to believe in more?