Man, most people would say in the midst of making six decisions, which results in one favorable outcome; they had a good time and would do it over again if they could. I fondly (false happiness in this case) remember going out to dinner, seeing a movie, and buying a $100 dollar pair of Nikes in the course of a week and not being able to pay my power bill at the end of the month. Yes sir, in the throws of delusional good times; I was residing in a structure of my own making that was steadily crumbling all around me.
The focuses were not on the five other things I had to upkeep and manage to have a chance at a stable life. The focus was on one thing. Pleasure. Whether that meant going to dinner, a movie or pursuing women. Shopping with money I needed to pay bills, or loaning money to a friend instead of paying my own obligations. Yes people, there is pleasure in being thought of as always having money in times of need.
Sacrifices were not made to better my life, but to have fun in part because other people said I needed to enjoy my life. The better part of 10 years was wasted in pursuit of pleasure. Realize this now; you can be blinded to all the critical parts of your life that will bring you contentment because pleasure imprisons your mind. Till your land (your mind, your brain) means to figure out what sort of life will look like success when you train your mind and lay a path to a life worthy of applause.
Don’t believe me? Ignore that nagging voice telling you the car is about to cease functioning. Ignore the voice warning you that a dinner date costing $55 dollars for two meals could have paid for 12 at the grocery store. Ignore the voice telling you to save $50 dollars a month in case of an emergency. Ignore the voice telling you to not have a baby (male and female contributors) because you are barely able to feed and clothe yourselves now!
What have I learned? Laugh at myself often because it is a relief to know I broke free of the bondage of pleasure because I accepted one truth. Never did I win in the pursuit of pleasure! The score for me at the end of that game was: Victor 0, and Pleasure 100. The 5 important things that needed my attention were left to die on the vine because they weren’t getting any water from me. I came out of that life with nothing tangible to show for it! I lost every time while playing that game and I quit before it completely destroyed me.
Don’t do this either. Don’t look back on only the pleasure and ignore all the losses in the midst of your insanity. Don’t do it. If you choose to do it, tell yourself the truth and acknowledge what a life of despair you had. Don’t get washed and return to wallowing in the mire. Call it what it was and be thankful you got out in time.
If you want to have fun or pursue pleasurable activities, I recommend one rule. If you have the money or time to spend without it hurting, then have a good time and afterwards get back to work. If you are faking the funk to impress others or yourself, stop before you embarrass yourself.
Tilling your land will grow your seeds (education, specific skills, character, morality, etc.…) to make a time of harvest (your life) greater than the field that gave it growth.