"Get Results Fast!" These digital ads, radio ads, and billboards are seen everywhere. Whether it is a competition for the shortest wait time in the emergency room, the fastest weight-loss strategies, or just a silly ad about how to get the best results in something as fast as possible, we see or hear these ads every day. Now, I know I'm not the only one who has googled, "How to Make Money Fast in the Shortest Time Possible", or schemed up ways on how to do work I was required to do as little as possible so that I could binge-watch my newest obsession on Netflix. Now that I'm in college, with my wonderful (and only) form of preparing food, my trusty microwave, I search for the quickest meals I could prepare. Or the nights that we are too lazy to even cook and we go searching for a fast restaurant so we can ease our hunger. Growing up learning to play piano and guitar, I would get so frustrated if I couldn't play the note perfectly after one try. Playing soccer, I would get discouraged if a college coach didn't reach out to me after one good game. With school, I would expect praise if I did well on one test. Now, I think you get the point. Maybe you can even pinpoint instances in your life where you wanted instant gratification and when you didn't get it, you were discouraged from completing the task at hand.

In reality, we all do this. We live in a society of instant gratification. When we post something on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, we expect (and get) instant likes, comments, or shares. We expect everything to be fast, easy, and simple. We put in the hard work at times, but when we do, we expect results in abundance, and we expect them fast. We are all victims of this plague in our society because gratification feels good - and it works because, well, it is gratified. However, this is detrimental to us in the long run because when we don't get the results or the outcome we desire fast, we get discouraged and often give up. We have all heard the saying, "Good Things Take Time". And although we try to believe it and live through, this is challenging at time when you can't see the end outcome. As someone who would often see amazing things happening to others around me, I never understood why my hard work didn't have a reward. This caused a lot of anxiety in my personal life in my middle school and early high school years. Developing an anxiety disorder of comparison, robbing me of joy and motivation, I wanted to give up on my goals and didn't want to continue doing the things I loved. However, thanks to my amazing support system I came to the realization that all my hard work would be rewarded eventually. I graduated, I played soccer for an amazing travel team, and I am now attending university covering my costs with scholarships.

We all have something we are waiting to happen, but it may not come right away. Just because we are constantly taught and trained to expect results and desired outcomes at the speed of light, doesn't mean that the outcome won't come eventually.

"Good Things Come to Those Who Wait."

While this is hard to live by, it is something important to always remember and keep in the back of our minds. Gratification is like a marathon. Everyone will reach the finish line at a different pace.