Self Gratification For An Accomplishment

sodredge

Starting off this thread I could just see the minds of people on this board some how thinking this was a "masturbation thread" though let me offer you something of the latter, well at least from my perspective.

My question this morning is what do you give yourself when you have accomplished something important to you, if anything at all. Point and case I just worked a 15 hour shift and normally I come home and give myself the pillow some ambient techno and a bottle of Nyquil, though today being a bit rougher than the norm. I was actually feeling it so I stopped at the store and got a bottle of chocolate milk. I sat there and continued my drive and drank my milk and revied in the fact that I felt so much better after drinking it then before.

I realize this is nothing big, and I guess it does not have to be. I was just wondering what if anything people do for themselves after accomplishing something, well anything that is important to them.

scotty

Breaking a routine. Ie. stay up late and mess up sleeping pattern. Usually by going out or watching movies until late and then eventually you feel like a pig and get back on track and then yeah. Sounds lame doesn't it but that's what I do.

a.Bird

Well if the achievement is very labor intensive, I'll immediately collapse afterwards and let my tired body become as thin as air while I recollect everything I just did. However if the the achievement is more mentally intensive, afterwards I will snap into a Zen state and allow my mind to loosen its grip on time, unwinding from the new algorithms it has just encompassed. What eventually happens in either case is that I use the great feeling of pride I am experiencing to work towards a new goal. If I just built entire computer system and optimized the OS to run as smooth as a whistle, I will do it again but 10 minutes quicker, and then 10 minutes quicker the time after. If just learned how to do a back-flip from a rope swing, next I'll learn how to do it without the rope.

My latest mission is to learn the piano. Razz

sodredge

funnyerror

Well.... after working long hours at my job, or finishing a new paper for college, I get online and play Quake, Call of Duty, Doom, MultiTheft Auto, etc... I know it's not the best thing to do because I end up with a headache or wrist cramps, but I heart playing video games. That is how I reward myself after hard work. Deal with it.

-JC

JLGPhoto

I usually reward myself with an ice cold glass of Sweet Tea! Yeah, Baby...to each his own but that hits the spot.

Linda_B

Depends on what it is I've accomplished. If it's getting out of bed on a rainy and boring day I'll treat myself to a chickflick and hot chocolate when I come home in the evenings.

When I have achieved something big, like exams or just getting overmyself and doing something I should have done ages ago I generally don't need anything to reward myself with just because I just create a bubble around myself where the sun just keeps shining. A new pair of shoes or a scarf might aid that every once in a while though... Cool

newlife~

newlife~

<newlife~t> There's nothing that I can think of recently that I've done for myself (which means I'm probably not slowing down enough to do so, as well as maybe, I'm not doing a lot that I feel deserves to be rewarded).

But I remember one summer evening, years ago, when I was working at a downtown grocery store. I usually had to work the 10-6 or 11-7 shift, but that Friday, I was covering for a co-worker and went in from 7-3.

It was a beautiful day, and to leave work in the middle of the afternoon was a real treat. I didn't appreciate why anyone would want to work such an early shift. When I chose the later shift, I thought I was lucky to be able to sleep in. But that afternoon, I felt extremely free. I went on a bike ride in the city, something I hadn't done in a long time (and biking around Boston in the summertime is really beautiful).

And after working up a good appetite, I went and got some good take-out as well as rented a couple of movies (Parenthood, starring Steve Martin, and Cocktail, starring Tom Cruise).

With my food and myself planted right in front of the television, I felt extremely happy--not the kind of happy you feel when you win or overcome something major--but the kind of happy that sits deep inside your center, that makes you feel like everything is just right in the world.

Back then, I didn't think of it all as rewarding myself for an accomplishment. But as I thought about this topic, I think I was naturally gratifying myself for accomplishing the goal of having a unique and productive day.

Halfway through the first movie, the phone rings, and it's one of my former teammates from high school, "Hey Tom--you'll never guess where I am?" he says.

"What'sup, Al?" (I hadn't heard from him in probably a year or so.) "What are you talking about? Where are you?"

"I'm sitting right here, next to Rachel!"

I hear some laughter in the background, and I wonder, What the Hell is going on over there? It turns out that he was with my friend Rachel (that I had met just within the past year)--he was dating Rachel's best friend and they were all hanging out together. None of us were aware of this connection.

Al thought it was hysterical and had to call me up. He invited me over, and I offered to bring my movies.

About an hour later, Rachel was in my arms.

About 3 years later, Rachel and I married.

Kaisonic

Lately, anything I accomplish is enough fun in itself to be gratifying while I'm doing it. I'm such a lazy bum that I haven't attempted to accomplish anything I don't want to do in the first place. But, whenever that does happen, the simple gratification of getting it done is enough for me. I'll reward myself with video game time or something.