The Process of Contentment
During the times of wondering how to be happy every day, I have noticed that I became obsessed with the highs of life. When is the next big event? Where will my next big opportunity come from? This obsession led to a low of sadness, realizing that chasing the highs of life was exhausting. I wanted to be at a stage of peace in my life. Pure joy. Contentment. The art of satisfaction regardless of the outcome. The highs and lows of my life needed balance. I had to find what lies in the middle.
During this time I had to figure out exactly what I was attracted to with the highs of life. I realized that the sense of accomplishment made me feel less complacent and gave me the reassurance that I was moving forward positively in my life. But, what about the times where I wasn’t moving? The times where I would come home every day to the same routine, same job that wasn’t quite fulfilling, and same money that didn’t seem to make my account any fatter. Those days are rough. I had to figure out a method to increase my peace and positive reinforcement within myself. The biggest solution to that was gratification. For everything that I could find a reason to complain about, I turned it into gratitude. I am thankful that I have a job, a house, health, a car, friends, family, and all of the things that I tend to overlook day to day. The act of thankfulness has saved me from feeling incomplete. The danger in comparison is that I convinced myself that because I wasn’t moving as fast as others, I’m not worthy of great things happening to me. This kept me down for a while but I had to find some light through it.
Gratitude of life has been my process through learning contentment. I have to be thankful for what I have and realize that the best is yet to come. Whatever position God puts me in will be ordained by Him and I have to be patient and find contentment in the process. Contentment is enjoying the highs and being comfortable with the lows. It’s knowing that your happiness isn’t dependable on what’s currently happening, but on being thankful for what you have and will have in the future.
