07/07/2024
The short answer:
We live in a world that is SO vastly different than even 20 years ago.
Go back even farther, and electric light was invented in 1802 but wasn’t implemented until around the 1880’s.
Even my generation can’t REALLY fathom a life before electricity, indoor plumbing, electric washers & dryers.
Sure we can do without them for a day or two but we really start to get cranky when we don’t have all these things readily available to us.
In thinking along these lines I began to ponder how we’ve become so accustomed to having most anything almost at the moment it is thought of. With Amazon and other overnighters we just don’t want and wait. It’s an almost instantaneous process.
So how has that affected our lives in general. I think most would say it has enhanced living and generally made it much easier. I don’t disagree there, but I feel it has also affected us in a negative way.
We have come to expect things, NOW. And where that goes south is in the expectation that EVERYTHING should be done or fixed or changed or delivered virtually in an instant.
That cannot sustain. We can’t expect everything to just magically fix. Some things take time and effort and I’m afraid we’ve forgotten how to do that. How to “wait”, how to “endure”.
This creates such a false expectation.
You cannot fix a broken relationship overnight. You can lose 20 pounds in a couple of days. You can’t build wealth in a week (unless you hit the lottery!). All these things take time, dedication and putting in the work.
But have we gotten so accustomed to the short answer or the quick fix that we just fall into the false expectation and either walk away, give up or find the quickest solution that isn’t always the best one?
For example; marriage no longer last 50 plus years. Why? Debt is at all all time high and those considered wealthy or in the black are at an all time low. Why? Weight loss has become as “easy” as a shot every month or a surgery instead of through proper diet, nutrition & exercise. Why?
The short answer is that it is because it IS the “short answer”. We’ve become too complacent with instant gratification instead of longer term achievement sometimes even at the expense of long term health or wealth or relationships. And the “short answer” isn’t always the “right answer”!!!
Jamie Barnes Saxon
