Why You Should NOT WAIT to Enjoy the Good Pleasures of Life!

Everyone loves to talk about the importance of delayed gratification and how one must learn to tolerate what even what they hate and postpone the hopes of happiness for years into the future. That is taught to be the secret of success.

I read recently about a guy who was 46 years old and was looking to cash out of his stock investments to enjoy his life today. He asked for advice from random people on the internet, who of course considered themselves no less than ultra geniuses on finance.

 The most popular advice he received from these financial geniuses was that he should set a goal to wait till 60, because then the money would grow and he would REALLY be able to enjoy his wealth.

First of all, because of the very nature of the stock market, there is NO GUARANTEE that his wealth would have grown 14 years later, it could actually grow very insignificantly or even go down. There are plenty of examples of the same and I don’t need to repeat myself.

Secondly and more importantly – my question is – What are you going to do with a goal and persistence/perseverance that takes 30 years to manifest, if it does at all?

If enjoying the fruits is your goal behind doing an activity, you will probably be long dead or be close to sitting in a wheel chair by then.

Let me illustrate this through a story.

The novel, “The Tartar Steppe” by Dino Buzzati tells the story of Giovanni Drogo, a young and eager officer assigned to his first post at Fort Bastiani, a remote garrison overlooking a desolate desert landscape that seems to stretch infinitely. The fort’s purpose is to guard against a potential invasion by the Tartars, a mysterious and fearsome enemy believed to exist just beyond the desert.

From the moment he arrives, the fort’s atmosphere of waiting and vigilance grips Drogo. The fortress, perched on the edge of vast emptiness, is consumed by the anticipation of an attack that never seems to come. The soldiers’ days are marked by routine: standing guard, watching the horizon, and maintaining the fort, all under the heavy weight of a silent expectancy.

Drogo initially plans to request a transfer after a few months, hoping to return to a more active military life. However, the peculiar charm of the fort and its mission slowly captivate him. He decides to extend his stay, telling himself that the encounter with the Tartars would be a pivotal moment in his life, a chance to participate in a glorious battle that would define his career and give his life meaning.

Years start to slip away almost imperceptibly. Drogo watches many of his friends and colleagues leave the fort, either transferred to more desirable posts or retiring from military life. New soldiers arrive, full of the same initial enthusiasm that Drogo once had, only to find themselves caught in the same cycle of waiting.

 Over time, the endless vigil takes its toll on Drogo. The desert, the fort, and the vast sky become his world, while the life he had imagined for himself—the city, a family, a different career—slowly fades from his aspirations.

As Drogo grows older, his health begins to deteriorate. Isolated and distant from the life he once knew, he remains at the fort, sustained by the shrinking hope of the Tartars’ attack.

FINALLY, the moment arrives! The Tartars approach, and the fort springs to life in preparation for the battle. But by this tragic twist of fate, Drogo is too old and ill to participate. He is sent away from the fort to seek medical care.

In the final chapters of the novel, Drogo leaves the fort for the last time. As he travels away from the place that defined his existence, he reflects on the years spent waiting for a day that, now arrived, he can no longer partake in.

Drogo dies in a small inn, alone and far from the battlefield, as the sounds of the battle he had longed to join echo faintly in the distance. He misses the defining moment of his life—a moment that comes too late, rendering his sacrifices meaningless.

This tale is a meditation on the nature of time, ambition, and the human condition. It speaks to anyone who has ever found themselves postponing life for a future that, once arrived, might not hold the fulfillment they anticipated.

 Drogo’s story is a powerful reminder of the dangers of waiting too long for a life that may never align with one’s dreams and expectations. It challenges readers to consider their own waits and what they might be missing while looking too far ahead.

The novel, therefore, is not just a tale of military life or of waiting for an enemy, but a profound commentary on human life and aspirations.

 Like Drogo, many of us find ourselves stuck in our own versions of Fort Bastiani, caught up in the rat race, waiting for grand events or achievements that we believe will justify the wait or give meaning to our lives. We postpone living in the present for a future that might never unfold as we imagine.

“While life is yours, live joyously;

None can escape Death’s searching eye

When once this frame of ours they burn,

How shall it ever again return?” –

Charvaka Philosophers (Ancient Indian Materialists)