I am a Prime Addict. Amazon Prime and I have a very good relationship. We actually have an ongoing love affair. You see, I am formerly a victim of the 90’s: Going from store to store and watching flyers for the lowest price on the item I was looking for. Since falling in love, Amazon has saved me from wasted hours and gasoline.
Enter the two thousand something years, where convenience trumps price and saving time wins.
At least that’s what I tell myself. It’s not the first time I’ve lied to myself, but in this case I know what the truth really is. I want it now. Not when I have time to go get it or find the best price. I want it on my doorstep within 48 hours. Deciphering between need and want has gone out the window.
Take for instance around 10:00 pm this past Sunday night, Craig mentions he needs some new white t-shirts because his are looking yellow. I GOT THIS! The whole process of opening my trusty Amazon App and finding the t-shirts and hitting one click ordering (danger!) is done in less than a minute and those t-shirts are off my mind. All accomplished from the warmth of my bed.
I guess I should point out here that Craig did not say “I need these immediately.” That was my own inner dialogue talking.
I think our brains work differently now than what they did say ten years ago or so. Instant gratification is everything now. Don’t like what's in the fridge for dinner.? Call Uber Eats. Do you find watching shows with those nasty things of the old days called commercials offensive to your time? Well, hello Netflix. Have a spare minute at a stoplight? Hello Instagram.
Recently on a road trip with a friend of which I was the driver, we would be talking away and if I said “I wonder…” that was her cue to google what we were wondering. Instant answers with no delay that’s just our world right now. Good or bad, there is no wait for what we really want.
Then how will we know WHAT we really want? Do we even know what it’s like to wonder or much less (gulp) need? I don’t have the answer to that. But all this thinking about the instant age we live in had me pondering about some times when I should’ve pushed the wait button instead of the easy button.
In the early days of sobriety some of the best advice I was given was something like this.
“When you have a craving, wait it out. Trust me it will pass.”
Sadly, there were more times than I can count that I didn’t wait. I wanted that craving gone. Now. The only way to appease it was to drink for that immediate relief from the craving that seemed to be consuming my mind, body, and soul. Then how long would the relief actually last? Not very long and I would hate myself for having to start the quitting process all over again. I was finally able to quit when I could get past the immediate want to make it go away.
We have to do the same with food, back away from the Costco cake! Toxic Relationships, we have to walk away from those texts or emails that we are trying to break free of. Porn, one click and you’re in it. Shopping. Same, one click and it’s yours. None of those things bring us true joy. Just instant albeit fleeting satisfaction.
Alcohol along with other drugs of choice are what we keep giving ourselves to find relief from the very thing that's causing the problem in the first place.What if we didn’t always go for the immediate and just tabled the feeling of impulse and want for a few? And did this instead:
Waiting on the things of this earth shows us how to wait on what God is trying to teach us. It’s all relative. I had to learn how to wait out my cravings to get to what God had intended for me to do: To live a life that honored him.
Watch - Ask - Invite - Trust,
Peace on Your Weekend,
Sherry