By Cheyenne Brown

Do you ever find yourself looking in the mirror wishing you were slimmer/thicker or taller/shorter? What about thinking if you had more money or a bigger house, then you would be happier?

Or do you ever catch yourself placing yourself in the shoes of a celebrity, thinking things would be much easier if you were anyone else but yourself?

“In our consumeristic-culture discontent is promoted and material gratification is encouraged,” quoted from Joshua Becker’s blog, The Unmistakable Freedom of Contentment and How to Find it.

We live in a society where nothing is ever good enough, therefore people are always striving for more or something different to mainly satisfy others, not primarily themselves. But that’s the catch, what we have is enough. Our surrounding societal pressures make us feel like we are not good enough, when in reality we are.

However, establishing goals with a reasonable plan to reach them is acceptable.

It is our way of thinking, our makeup. We continue to have the mind set of always striving to be better or have more. So in order to stop this cycle, we first must change our mindset, and learn how to accept ourselves for who we are and what we have. We must learn how to be content.

According to Urban Dictionary, contentment is a state of mind when you look at your life in all its imperfection and say, “good enough”.

Being content allows you to view life through a different lens. You are able to see what life really has to offer, because you are not looking for more. Therefor you are able to appreciate it for what it really is.

Self-contentment simply means you are satisfied with yourself. Being satisfied with what you have, who you are, and where you are in life. No more constantly trying to change or modify yourself…..

In today’s society people find satisfaction from materialistic things like, cars, money, and other possessions. It is not common for people to search for things that will bring them long term contentment, rather than temporary happiness.

People their waste time wrapping themselves up in their possessions, rather than enjoying life and the things around them. We often find ourselves in a fantasy world.
People often confuse being content with being happy. The two words have completely different meanings.

To be happy means to feel or shows one type of pleasure. To be continent means you are in a state of happy or satisfaction. Happiness leads to contentment.

We often seek happiness in additional things, but contentment means you are able to remove those things from your life and still be satisfied.

“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity enjoy less,” said Socrates.

Simplicity is a dominant factor of contentment. We often make things much more complicated than what they need to be, and we become frustrated with clutter. If we just took the time to eliminate all the excess and negative things from our lives, things would become a lot easier.

Also, instead of wishing you had something or were somewhere else in life, learn to appreciate what you do have. Take a step back from reality and realize where you stand in life. Realize that things could always be worse, and someone is always having it worse than you.

Learn to stop always searching for more, and be happy with what you do have. Learn to stop comparing yourself with others. Learn how to love yourself, for yourself.
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