Savoring anticipation.
Remember when you were a kid looking forward to Christmas and your birthday? Those generally were the only two times out of the year that you received gifts. You would anticipate opening that present from the moment you wrote it down in your letter to Santa all the way through a sleepless Christmas Eve.
Today we live in an instant society. There are very few things we have to wait upon. Between Amazon's two hour delivery, instant book and movie downloads, and credit we get most everything we want when we want it.
Professor Harold Schweitzer, author of Waiting (Thinking in Action) states, "Things and experiences gain value when you have to wait for them. Instant gratification makes them worth less."
If this is true, and I think it is, then maybe allowing yourself to wait a little for something might make it more meaningful. Before credit was so available people utilized layaway as a way to make payments on something before they actually took possession of the item. Each time you returned to the store to pay more toward your purchase the anticipation and excitement grew.
Today when we pretty much can have what we want without much waiting we might find a collection of books sitting on our end table waiting to be read. Or maybe a closet full of clothes that still have tags hanging on them. Today we have so much that nothing really is that special anymore because we know that it can be easily replaced.
Maybe just for fun put off that purchase for a few days, and savor the anticipation along the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment