My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute. — Ayn Rand
Giving a bit of background information, I'm having a well-paid corporate job in the city but inside of me, I feel emotionally empty and have a lack of happiness. Having grown up in a small town and having a passion to teach kids, what I'd really want to do is move back now, to my town and teach in an elementary or middle school. I also do not really feel comfortable living in a big city and love to be able stay in my town. However, due to social pressures and high expectations from family, friends and so forth, after graduation I left my town and went to the city where I am building "a successful career". My family and friends generally present the argument of "Work hard for the next 20–30 years in the city, then come back to enjoy your retirement in your small home town".
I briefly touched on Ayn Rand's philosophy, and what struck me is the part which states that man's moral purpose in his life is the pursuit of his own happiness. So I was thinking, is the pursuit of one's own happiness incompatible with delayed gratification?
If I were to follow Ayn Rand's philosophy that man's moral purpose of his life is the pursuit of his own happiness, would that be incompatible with delayed gratification? I would think since college, I have been practicing delayed gratification — moving out of my town to go to college, moving to the city after graduation to work. The long-term reward I see in this is that I would be financially very well off in 20–30 years time and can retire in peace and luxury. But for the next 20–30 years, I would not have a lot of happiness in my life as what I want to do is to live in my town, and to be a teacher, which would bring me a lot of happiness.