One of the biggest issues that confront us today is our need for instant gratification.

This attitude that ‘I deserve the best’ and ‘I want it right now’ is most prevalent in today’s youth as well as Gen-Y, also called as the Millennials (Persons born between 1980 and 2000).

Want the latest iPhone? Buy it with ‘Easy’ Instalments. Fancy the latest Adele music album? Purchase it on iTunes. Want to impress your friends by making a fashion statement? Shop for the latest summer collection of your favourite brands on eBay. Heard of the latest Dan Brown Thriller.?Download it with one click on your kindle device. In today’s day and age, if you want something you go ahead and get it almost instantaneously.

This does not end with possessing material goods. One wants this immediate response in all aspects of our lives including emotional gratification. No more amorous glances across the hallway, skipping of a heartbeat, exchanging love notes and getting to know each other. It just takes too long for today’s impatient youth. If you feel the need for companionship you simply jump online on one of the dating sites. And if Anna says ‘no’, one can always chase ‘Mary’!

Even in our professional lives, we seldom think long term. Gone are the days when one would join a particular industry, spend a good many decades in the same company and retire with a letter and medal of appreciation for long service.  It appears that no one wants this kind of stability anymore. Today’s generation desires wanting to make an impact, wanting a promotion, wanting to have a range of ‘experiences’ and they want it all right now, not five or ten years after joining the establishment. 

Depression is a real cause for concern amongst today’s younger generation. A major factor, I believe, is the fact that they feel (or are made to feel) they have not contributed enough or worked hard enough to gain recognition in their company. They fail to realise the importance of the time one needs to invest to achieve a certain level of expertise and knowledge within any given field. Patience is a virtue which is quite rare to find in the world today.

Yet, it is this same virtue which reaps immense rewards in the long term. A tree planted today cannot be forced to blossom tomorrow. It will bloom only when the time is right and it will be then be known for the fragrance of its flowers or the sweetness of its fruit. There is, after all, a vast difference between the troublesome weeds that grow under your feet overnight and the majestic oak tree which has taken decades to mature.

One does not set out to conquer a mountain by getting impatient at the base before the climb has even begun. You don’t earn the right to the splendid summit views at journey’s first step. There is a lot of effort, determination and hard work that you need to put in to make the ascent and your only focus when you have commenced your ascent should be to take that next step forward. There are a lot many things the climb will teach you and you will encounter many wonderful sights along the way, if only you choose to observe and be less fixated on only reaching the peak. Is it really important who reaches the peak first? Will you be robbed of your experience and the views from the top if someone gets there first? Your journey and your experiences are unique so you better enjoy and learn from them. 

Life, after all, is one beautiful journey and not just a static destination. So let loose of the constant impatience, cast aside the impulse to instantly satisfy every desire and begin to appreciate the art of delayed gratification. You may then begin to experience the richer feeling of gratitude that flows with it rather than the empty, fleeting feelings of short-lived happiness attached to instant rewards.

“We should not judge people by their peak of excellence, but by the distance they have travelled from the point where they started.” ― Henry Ward Beecher