THERE'S ALWAYS SOMETHING THAT WE ARE GAINING

We all have things that we are working towards. Dreams that we want to achieve. In the process we give all that we can to them and we expect to see results, some change, a sign that we are in the right direction but we don't always get that.
Sometimes you put in the work, make the sacrifices yet from where you are standing it still seems like nothing is working out the way that you had hoped. You start to doubt yourself and even start to believe that maybe you are fighting for the wrong thing, chasing a dream that may never come true.
What we don't understand and realise is that while in the process we may not get what we want, we are getting something else that may not be so obvious. The problem is our need to be instantly gratified, to do something only for a few days or months and then see results. You go to the gym for a week without fail and at the end of that week, you hop onto the scale expecting the number to have gone down. You write a few ideas down, attend meetings here and there with people who seem to get what your vision is about and expect to see the money rolling in after a few attempts. When it doesn't happen in this way, that need for immediate gratification clouds your judgement and you want to give up and start chasing the next thrill.
In wanting to achieve the things we desire we become obsessed with results. To the point where we forget to enjoy the moment of the journey and to learn some valuable lessons in the process. Did you know that when trying to lose weight, in the first few weeks or months the number on the scale may go up and not down? It's not to say you are not making progress because what is actually happening is that you are losing fat and gaining muscle and that's why the number is going up, muscle weighs more than fat if you didn't know. So you look at the scale and tell yourself that you are failing and that need for instant results over powers you and you want to give up. The same thing if you trying to start a business or whatever your dream may be, you want instant results and when that doesn't happen, you deem yourself a failure and want to give up.
Have you tried to look at the process from a different angle? Not getting what you want, when you want it but gaining so much more in the process. Learning to embrace failure which is just another way to know what works because you tried it and you can now eliminate one item off your list that you know for sure won't bring your results. You have gained a lesson. A lesson you wouldn't have otherwise learnt had you gotten what you desire immediately.
Patience from having to wait it out and knowing when to act and when to step back. Resilience from having failed but still had the courage to try again. This trait can only be developed because you had to overcome something you initially thought you couldn't. Strength which you get from falling and tripping but never growing weary of trying. These are the things that the process teaches you, the things you can never have if you always get what you want, when you want it. The things you will never be able to embrace and learn if all you are focused on is making it and getting results.
Anything worth having needs to be fought for because in the battle you learn and develop all these traits that will help you preserve and sustain what you want when you finally get it. Even in the times when it seems like nothing is going your way, the work put in is not producing results instead of growing despondent, just change your perspective and you will realise that even when you don't get what you want, there is something that you have gained.