S10E7: Working for something or having it on a silver platter, What's rewarding to you?

0:00 As a stroke survivor, I know it's a fact that we're impulsive. And as we progress in our survival, I'm telling you that we're looking for instant gratification to feel good and maybe to numb the pain. Because after the stroke happened, after the tornado happened, it left behind a lot of confusion, pain, discomfort, loss of people, things, memories, never mind loss of yourself. Well, today's episode is going to be very positive because we're going to talk about the benefits of delayed gratification in order to have success as a stroke survivor. Guys, you're going to want to stick around for this one. Hi, everyone.

0:47 I'm Karina, the host and creator of Stroke Surviving the Odds, the top two podcasts for stroke survivors. 26 years ago, I survived a brain stem dissection that led me to Coma Interlockton syndrome. Lucky for me and you, I'm here where I belong. And guess what? If you're listening to me right now, you are where you belong as well. 26 years ago, there was no concept of social media, never mind podcast, but I vowed that when the chance would come, the opportunity would show up. I was going to give all my tricks, hacks and how to's, how I got to survive this world as a stroke survivor for the past 26 years.

1:30 The show is not for the faint of hearts. It's for people that want to commit, that want to transform their lives. It's all about empowerment. A lot of it is self empowerment, acknowledgement, acceptance, adapting, adjusting to this new reality of yours in order to grow for yourself and for your loved ones.

1:56 Guys, grab yourself a drink, a pen and paper. The faintest of ink is better than the best memory. Come and join me here as we're recording today's episode of Stroke Surviving the Odds. You're not going to want to miss it. The show today is inspired by a discussion that I had with a listener and client of mine, Mr.

2:18 Tom Hendrick. As I said in the intro, stroke Surviving the Odds is all about moving forward past this ordeal and find all Silver Linings. Let me start today's episode by explaining to you guys what is a delayed gratification as opposed to instant. If you're someone that likes to do things hard right away in order to do the easier stuff later, that is delayed gratification.

2:51 That's what we want. That's what I'm talking about today. But if you're someone that wants to do the easiest stuff now and the hard stuff later, you're someone that wants instant gratification. Aha. There's a big difference between the two. Example, if you're someone that wants to lose 30 lbs because you have your high school reunion coming up and you want to fit into that dress or that suit that you have and you're hitting the gym and be careful and very mindful of how you eat and your diet.

3:32 Because you know at the end of the tunnel you're going to be wearing the outfit you want to wear. That is someone that wants delayed gratification. But if you someone that hits the snooze button in bed in order to get 20 minutes extra sleep, well, chances are you're someone that wants instant gratification.

3:57 You want at that very moment to feel good under the blankets because it's nice, warm and cozy. And later on you're going to be at work and it's going to be a pain in the butt, right? So you understand the two. I can tell you this, there's a lot of self sabotage happening when we have instant gratification.

4:23 You remember before I mentioned how we're looking for things to make us feel good right now because we feel like shit? Kind of like eating a bag of eating a bag of chips or a dozen Donuts or two Donuts in order to feel better right away because you're having an argument with your Co worker or it didn't go as planned in your therapy. There's also a lot of self sabotage happening with stroke survivors because of the lack of confidence. Yeah, the lack of self-confidence. You think you're not good enough or you're not good anymore because you are maybe physically different, maybe cognitively different.

5:11 I assure you that it is not the case. But that's for another episode. Today I want you to realize the difference between the two different gratifications. The self sabotage needs a lot of discipline. What is discipline? Discipline is repetition and consistency. Repetition means doing it over and over. Practice, practice, practice.

5:45 And consistency means doing it every single day, not doing it every other day. You understand that's where progress is going to happen. Example when we are going through a depressive phase or a downer. I don't have depressive phase anymore, but I get a lot of Downers and I feel myself going down.

6:16 You know when you're in a roller coaster, for those of you who have gone, you're in a roller coaster and you feel you're on a uphill, it's going up and then it's just you feel your stomach sinking and it's going down. That's how I feel. I feel myself going down. I know that all of a sudden I'm going to get it down there. That's where discipline is very much needed. I'll tell you guys, that's where I kick myself in the butt. I sometimes I don't make it.

6:50 Sometimes I'm like, oh screw it, I'm like everybody else, right? I'm not any better then then Joe Blow. I am the exact same. I'm a stroke survivor just like you. The only difference is I've been in the game a little longer, but that's where I have to put a lot of discipline. It would be easy to say I'm just going to go have a coffee and never mind, or I'm just going to go and eat some ice cream because that's what I feel like doing right now. But I'm not going to have that ice cream. Before I finished my phone calls at work and when I was talking with tom-tom made me explain to me how he played. He played the baseball almost professionally and now post stroke he has a hard mobility.

7:51 You know, it's the his, the sink is not happening. He explained to me that writing is very difficult. Writing with a pen and paper is very difficult. Trust me guys, he writes to me these long ass messages. That's how we communicate with each other. And he can text, but he cannot hold a pen and paper.

8:14 And guess what? He plays a badass guitar. You know what? And he says it. He practices and practices. He found his silver lining, guys. He didn't dwell on the fact that I can't hold a pen anymore. He found what worked for him, and I think that the podcast is about that is about you guys finding what works for you and not holding on and dwelling on what you can't do anymore or you got to do differently.

8:53 Because there's a lot of things, guys, that I also had to let go. You know, that I was a model and I can't walk through shit now in heels. I can't even do one step. I always wear flats. You know that I gained weight. I'm not a size 3 anymore. You know that I have brain fog a lot. But I work in public and I talk.

9:19 Talking is my life. So I'm lucky for that. I still have the gift of gap, but I make sure like today I'm talking to you and it's the words are hard to come out because I get these cramps in the back of my mouth and I'm forcing the words to come out. So I'm sure that in some, some cases you guys hear that, that little intonation in my voice, but I'm not giving up. It's what I do.

9:50 It is what I do. So don't give up yourself. Keep practice, practice, practice. I'm always mentioning how you need to decide and you need to commit. And I also said in my intro if you're listening to the podcasts that you decided to to do this shit to get better and maybe getting better means haha delayed gratification. Guys.

10:25 Do the hard stuff now, get it over with. I promise it will get better. And at the end you're going to be, wow, I'm glad I'm done. I'm glad that's over because I've snoozed also in the morning and guess what? When I snooze, I lose because I snooze and I'm late for work because I'm late for my commute. I have no control over public transportation, you understand? So make it a point to decide.

10:59 Commit on your delayed gratification and try to build that discipline of yours just a little bit more. Just a teeny weeny bit more. My beautiful, beautiful gang. Listen, that's what I have for you guys today. I'm off to work myself. Make sure you follow me on, or rather you join the group on Facebook.

11:29 I'll leave you all in my descriptions of the ways that you can join me. You can join my groups like follow and subscribe on any and all of the podcast platforms that you are currently using because it tells the algorithm gods that the show is in need of a push, needs to be out there with more people and that's what's going to happen guys.

11:58 The more you like follow and subscribe and download the episodes in order. You can refer to them while you're rehabilitating yourself. But it's telling the algorithm to push us into other people's podcasts so we can more and more known. 2 free gifts you can offer me is to, like I said before, download the episode and the second one is to share the episode. Share it to someone that you think you don't need to know. They need to hear this.

12:37 Your job is to share. Their job is to say hey, I'll listen to it or I screw it. I'm not listening. You see, that is the beauty of being a stroke survivor. That is the beauty of being a human being. We got a second chance. Let's make it count. I love you. Bye.