Delayed Gratification

     A few days ago while riding the ski lift I began thinking about delayed gratification.  It occurred to me that skiing is good training to practice delayed gratification in all aspects of ones life.   Of course when I state this, I am assuming that delayed gratification is useful.   

    If you love skiing you want to be going down the slope as much and as soon as possible.  Time on the lift is a waste of your precious day.   However, perhaps the lift time is good for you since you truly appreciate the time on the runs.   If there was not a wait time you would have instant gratification and  could become jaundiced about the sport.  

    If I extend these thoughts beyond skiing and reflect on my long life of dealing with delayed gratification that I have experienced both in the present and the past, I am struck by how useful that has been in appreciation of each desire being satisfied.   Reaching back to my youth during World Ware II it was a time when toys were not being manufactured.  Thus at least in my experience there were few to no toys for Christmas.  Only after World War II  was I able to get a new Schwinn bicycle that I had yearned for.   How sweet it was to ride that shining new bicycle after the long years of wait.   Later on in my high school years I longed for a motor scooter!   My parents were in no position financially to satisfy my wishes.   After a year or so of extra hard work,  I was able to buy my Cushman motor scooter.  You can imagine how much I appreciated that acquisition.   

    As my life has spun out beyond growing up,  marrying, raising families and having a professional life,  I believe my early life experience kept me in the mode of delayed gratification.   Whenever possible I delayed acquisition of material things until I had accumulated the means to obtain them.   Avoidance of debt has been my mantra.   Perhaps this denial behavior has been onerous for others but in my latter years I think there are immense rewards for this behavior.    In the order of the mundane let me mention that as I finish this blog, I am anticipating my delayed after dinner dessert.  How sweet it will be now!

    Readers, I look forward to your reactions on my thoughts about delayed gratification.