The Five Minute Rule

I'm a little bit weird. My students make fun of me for having OCD and my boyfriend thinks I tend to be impulsive. What can I say? I like things a specific way.

Recently, I made up a new rule for myself. It's very creatively called "The Five Minute Rule", which is actually not creative at all and completely explains itself solely within the name. When I feel like I really want something, whether it be to buy something I probably don't need on Groupon or to snag a handful of M&Ms, I wait five minutes. 

If I still want it after those five minutes, then fine. Most times though, I've either forgotten about the Groupon good or the chocolate handful.

It seems as though we live in a world that is so "go-go-go". Everything is right at our fingertips. If we want to know the weather, we don't have to go outside; we just need to click on the weather app. If we have a question, Siri will answer it in a matter of seconds. We know everything our friends did today by scrolling through our Facebook and Instagram feed and people can get a date with a swipe of a finger on Tinder. Everything is immediate. 

Has this instant gratification seeped into our lives into more ways than we realize, though? I might take it lightly that it's so easy to click "Buy" on my Groupon app, but what's this doing to me? I need to remind myself to stop and think about the things I'm doing and whether or not it's actually important or not.

In our super fast, super instantaneous world, slow down, even if it's only for five minutes.