The Long Game

The Long Game

I feel it’s safe to say that we live in an era of instant gratification.  When I say era, I mean for decades rather than months.  It seems as though this societal-wide-process of feel-good-now has increased significantly with the growth of technology and access to people and information.  That makes sense.  If all the information in the world is at a person’s fingertips, then why make any effort to truly learn about anything?  If life is pre-made and cheap, why go to the effort to work at anything with substance?

What’s interesting about this is that in the evolution of the species, human beings have only been exposed to the internet, and then more recently smart phones, for a very short period of time.  What’s also interesting is the rapid adaptation to technology at all levels of human intelligence. This quick adaptation and reliance on thinking machines to do our thinking for us has created a system that mimics the addictions we engage in as people.

Like instant gratification, addiction is a looping mechanism that the human mind uses to ease any level of discomfort.  It’s an escape mechanism from the things we do not have control over.  It’s a deflection from the life-events we cannot manage.  It’s the replacement of sustained effort with an artificial high that lasts only long enough for placation.

Addictions develop over a period of time.  Some drug addictions come quickly but that is because of physical chemical dependency.  The mental side of addictions come about over a period of repeated engagement.  As the practice is repeated, the brain correlates the feel good with the not feel bad. The addictive behavior is ultimately used as a way to not feel bad about other real-world occurrences in life.  The feel-good part is artificial and temporary.  As long as the temporary feel goods keep coming, the feel bads are hidden, but truly never go away. 

There are a lot of people that want a magical fix to their life.  Why do you think the lottery makes so much money?  People develop faith that fairy dust will rain down from heaven, and with little to no effort on their own behalf, what has been wronged in their life will be righted.  It’s not that the turmoil that haunts a person’s mind isn’t realized.  What’s causing mental anguish is what’s being escaped from.  The reason for the escape is that the actions and effort required for change are mentally insurmountable. The scope of work required is too hard, it will take too long.  The ship can’t be righted with the push of a finger.  The bridge can’t be rebuilt by throwing a blanket over the flowing water.  It takes a goal, a plan, materials, and support to create permanent and sustainable life-structures.

The greatest chance for continual happiness and fulfillment in a person’s life comes from planning and development of structures that can connect to positive practices and positive relationships.  Sometimes in order for these structures to be created we have to drain the swamp first.  We have to clear out the refuse that’s cluttering the platform we want to build on.  That platform is our physical, mental and spiritual existence.  If we’re adding onto existing structures, then we need to make sure we have solidity and definite points to fasten to.  If we build on shaky ground, things are going to fall apart and decay. If we attach to weakened structures, what we’re trying to build will eventually fall off and crumble, and harm the structure they were attached to.  We are the architects as well as the builders and maintenance workers for the structure that is our lives, and in order to get the most out of it, we have to play the long game.

The long game isn’t new.  The long game is different.  For many it has been forgotten.  The plans we make today don’t have to happen today.  Just because we don’t see results from decision we just made doesn’t mean results are impossible.  The only place where the impossible exists is in the imagination.  It’s also the place where the possible resides.  The impossible becomes the possible, and then the plan, and then the development and then the reality.  It’s an incredible limitation to only approach avenues in life that can be realized instantly or near to instantly.  The long game involves seeing our image in a greater and more positive future, then making effort toward achieving that image.

The long game requires knowledge and research.  If I want to reach an enhanced version of myself that can only exist with effort and change then I have to know how to get from where I am to where I want to be.  For instance, if I wanted to be healthier and part of that was losing thirty pounds, I obviously can’t do that today or even in a month (safely). It’s not worth cutting off a limb or going on a hunger strike because the pain of achieving my goal far outweighs the accomplishment.  It also lacks development or a plan for sustainability.  But if I increase my intelligence on the matter, by researching, consulting and establishing a support system, it’s doable in less time than most would think.  It’s more than joining a gym.  It’s more than eating fat-free crackers.  If I want a serious transformation of myself then I need to transform as much of my current habits as I can mentally handle and build on that.  In order to do that right I have to find out what other successful people have done to get the results I am looking for.  Additionally, I need to find people that will provide me the motivation, the incentive and the validation to help me sustain my plans along the way.

 All of this takes work.  It takes physical work, mental work and believe it or not, spiritual work. These three elements are a part of any long game change a person can undergo. Even if I want positive change that doesn’t seem to involve physical change, I still need to make physical changes in my planning, actions and motivations.  If I want to become a better engineer, I can’t consume processed artificial crap all day, while sitting in front of a computer screen.  Ultimately my brain will not have the vitamins, minerals, nutrients and proper blood flow to allow me to become proficient at that skill. My brain won’t have the fuel, mental stability or processing power to become an expert at my craft.  This goes for anything we do in the waking moments of our lives.  The human mind, as much as any other organ or part of the body, relies on top level fuel to perform optimally.  Dirty fuel will cause it to sputter, backfire and ultimately shut down.  Clean, healthy fuel allows more ideas and processes to be consumed, organized, stored and retrieved.  This applies to math, music, reading, writing, listening, communication, relationships, complex thought, critical thinking and anything else that would require a person to think.  That same fuel, coincidentally, will allow the other organs and body parts to function optimally too.  If a person is taking in the right fuel, then why not improve the functionality of the machine that the mind is attached to?  This development (or re-development) of the human mind combined with the human body is a major aspect of recovery. That recovery is a recovery from any life circumstances that have been degraded, need improvement or could use enhancement.  It’s an integral part of changing oneself for the better.  It’s taking the impossible and improbable and accomplishing the possible.

There is connectivity between physical health and mental health.  Yes, a person can abuse their body and eat poorly while being slothful for a long time. Anyone can play their own long game of continual abuse, neglect and harm to their own body without the damage being apparent.  Anyone with access can drink, drug, smoke, and cheeseburger with cola themselves to death.  The rapidity of the decline depends on the effort (physical and mental work) put forth against the body’s resilience and resistance to it. But think about the amount of work needed to limit and ultimately destroy health.  And then think about the end game consequences. It’s pain, suffering and loss.  Now, think about all that effort into doing the exact opposite: healthy food, healthy living, reaching for a higher version of oneself.  The end game is spectacularly different now.  It’s fulfillment, validation and gain.

To understand the long game, a person needs to grasp a concept: what we become begins in our imagination.  Once we see a version of our life and have the desire to become that person, a more advanced determination of what it will take to get there can be developed. A time estimate is essential.  Knowing something will take a determined but lengthy amount of time, even if it’s a guestimate, can allow for calm, patience and realistic planning.  A variety of steps in between can also be given time expectations.  All of this keeps the vision alive.  Other people can help with this.  We need support systems to keep us on track mentally.  We need others to help us gather the building materials we need, even if those materials are mental constructs.  We also need a cheering section.  Validation for accomplishments along the way is an essential element to accomplishing anything.  All of these things keep the imagination activated and keep the motivation and encouragement necessary to play out any long game scenario.

If a person is used to receiving their validations and achievements piecemeal and in small bits, their lives ultimately become moment-to-moment.  This is a life-environment that is heavy in liability and always on the edge of potential collapse.  It’s impossible to live in the immediate for the long-term, without the effort to develop a plan of having any level of calm, peace, serenity, fulfillment, and worthwhile gratification in life.  You can get it work for a while, but if one thing falls off, the other elements of life that have not been developed are weak, fragile and susceptible.  People get trapped into this looping system and then their life “highs” are received in smaller increments that don’t have consistency.  Once the elements shrink to placate dissatisfaction, then the next thing is waiting, and that thing wants satisfaction right now over and over again.

Addiction to a substance like a drug, which we know takes physical ingestion to work it’s short-term high, is much like any other life practice that gives the brain a shot of dopamine, the magic chemical that the brain uses to drive us toward reward and away from not reward.  If I’m having mental discomfort and I placate that with chips and ice cream, I’m performing the same function.  If I’m feeling helpless about my life circumstances and I use social media as a constant distraction, I’m performing the same function.  If I’m constantly making excuses for not exercising, instead sitting and laying down all the time, then the function is still the same.  With substance abuse and all the other things out there that involve instant gratification, the idea is to give the brain a temporary pacifier, and then when it begins feeling discomfort again, to insert another pacifier.

Instead of a box of binkies, I’m offering this.  Discover the underlying cause of what requires pacification.  Take that information and formulate a long-term plan that is attainable and sustainable to replace that pacifier with true nourishment.  Then, as the architect of your life, build something better.  Build a human being that isn’t scratching at the surface for poor fillers but is instead planting seeds that can be nourished and encouraged to grow into a tree that bears fruit.  It’s bringing the elements that promote growth and using those to develop a firm and lasting structure that is a life fulfilled.