is contentment enough?

do you think that being content with life is enough?

not chasing your dream, living the same thing day after day... can you get by on that?

if you're happy and content

or do you think their needs to be more purpose in someone's life to make it seem worth it

I look forward to games, advancements in science but most importantly technology. Otherwise everyday would be the same. Being content would be fine with me.

I think that it depends on whether or not the person is truly content and happy for if they are then they are living a fulfilling life and what's wrong with that? For many doing the same thing day after day leaves them restless but I know people who have the same routines day and day and are truly happy.

I struggle with this concept more and more every day.

For a long time, the longest time at any job, I was content to be where I am. Then all of a sudden I wasn't. Although perhaps 'content' wasn't the right word, since the longer I stayed at my job the more medicine I had to take in order to be functional there. Now I have determined that I need something more, but I'm afraid that I lack the skills or that a new job would be even worse for me than this one is in terms of putting demands on me that I struggle to meet. I recently decided to return to school, which helps with the idea that I will one day have the freedom to leave if I need to, but does little to help my personal health and well-being in the short term since I am now working a job that I now no longer like and going to school on top of that. I'm operating at a constant level of low-grade anxiety, and I worry about having one of my more epic meltdowns.

Contentment only seems to work for me as long as I can't identify that there is nothing wrong.

It depends upon what makes you content. I think there are some people who are content living blissfully in sameness but for me I need to experience and strive for new things all the time to be happy. I can't be content with a complacent settling in to a same ol' same ol' sort of lifestyle.

Yes, it's enough. It's plenty. It's more than most people ever get.

Being content and happy is massive and I guess we all define it differently.

To me it would be about being fulfilled in my marriage, having positive relationships with my kids and being successful (one day, again) in my career.

Those 3 things would make me content - yes - but they require continuous work and commitment in order to sustain them. If I sat back and got toooo content ... well then things could start to fall apart.

Being in a state of contentment does not mean you should not have ambitions and aspirations. It means accepting what you have at the moment and not lament. While preparing to achieve what you desire, it always pays to be content because it gives immediate peace. Only when you are at peace with yourself you can achieve what you desire. Besides, happiness is the core of every existence.

I have been pushed and have pushed myself too much and the end result is that I am not happy. In retrospect, I wish I was content with a simpler live.

I couldn't be happy living a "normal" life doing the same thing every day and not having any goals or aspirations in life. I would rather die than live a simple life.

I am content with my life. Like others have said, that does not mean I don't have dreams and ambitions. It means I have a life I enjoy and am fulfilled. For someone looking at my life from the outside it might look boring, but there is variety and challenge for me.

Sometimes...I'm not sure..because I think sometimes I want many things in my life-but do "I"really want those dreams/goals..or..am I a product of my generation and environment where I grew up believing you needed to have/do/be all those things to be happy/content..
So for me, I am 50yrs old, divorced and finally trying to sort out who I really am/can I be content living life a certain way-even if others don't see the value/importance or am I still too focused on what others think about me...

good post

i think that's how i feel sometimes.

is it worth having goals and dreams etc etc.. eventually, everything will be taken from you anyway- even if you live the best life possible, it all just will come to an end

so i've given up caring about being happy because i don't see the point. (which might sound a strange concept, but it's how i feel)

What I learned is:
1st - It's my life and I do not have to live by anyone's book of shoulds... this helped me a lot... I did not lead a "typical" life and now I understand it's OK - I constantly thought I should be doing what others were - I set my standards by what others were doing or not doing - wrong wrong wrong.

I stop living for goals... now do not take this wrong - I'm pretty sure I had the wrong goals for me. Only if I had a better, car, job, significant other, was thinner, prettier had better clothes, finished college, had children then my life would be good. - Nope - wasted a lot of time trying to do that and feeling like a failure.

As I started getting older.... I learned to make a point to looked at what was making my life good or what made me feel positive ON A DAILY BASIS... not always easy. If I did nothing more than watch a movie that meant something to me - it's was good. If I just heard my favorite song.. it's good. If I got dressed, brushed my teeth and spoke to a good friend on the phone - it was good. If I needed a day just to chill and stay in bed cause was not feeling the best ... it's ok... the bad thing is to stay in that bed too many days.

I have had great jobs and really bad ones. Many times I felt a sense of accomplishment for what I was doing... my trigger was working with or for people I lost respect for.
You can have the best job in the world and co-workers who you have a hard time working with and hate going to work for that reason.

The journey counts just as much or more than the destination. The destination may not be what you thought it would be.

Adapt and learn to enjoy what you can the best you can.... whatever that may be.

Plus medication did help me with anxiety and depression - those were holding on so much that at one time I could not see life for the better

It's certainly for no one else to tell you how to feel, I understand, but I hope you will not be offended if I say I think it's really unfortunate. I was childless and unmarried at 45 and living in someone's basement with no friends after the place I worked closed down. Not quite rock bottom but going no where fast.

From there, I went on to a new job and just happened to also find the love of my life and now we are coming up on our 3rd weeding anniversary, all in the span of 5 years. Now, thanks to her I would say, I am happy most of the time, but not content. I still have lots of issues, and I feel I have a lot of unfulfilled potential. It seems to me I have a long way to go to achieve contentment but just like with happiness, but I hope to keep trying. In the mean time, my life is far better than I could have even imagined, back then. I really hope the same for you.

I know it's hard when you get to that point where it just doesn't seem like you have it in you any more to even try to have some real quality of life because all you can feel is a dull pain all over. I think that just means it's time for a really good rest, lots of sleep, laying about listening to your favorite music really loud, basically, being slobby. A day or 2 or 5 never killed anyone. It seems to recharge my emotional batteries and then I take a deep breath and head into the breach again.

I would say having one or the other is doing pretty well to start with, but I believe if you don't give up you can achieve both. Try not to limit your options and just do as much as you have the energy and strength for and I think eventually, it can get a lot better.

congratulations on your third wedding anniversary.

that's a good thing!. i hope their are many more to come

For me, I would give just about anything to be content. That would be an improvement for me. The closest thing I have to contentment today is waking up each morning and realizing I made it thru another day without "checking out."

Thank you modern medicine and therapy.

Sorry you have it tough. Contentment to me is the baseline. It is the 0 on my mood scale.

I once read a very interesting book which divided people into four different personality types (with everyone being a unique combination of all four) - explorers, directors, negotiators and builders.

Looking back, I realise that most of my friends during university where strongly in the 'builder' category, whilst I was more strongly the 'explorer' type. For several years after university, although I had a job I enjoyed, I felt like a bit of a failure inside, like I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing and that I was not successful in having a relationship, buying a house etc.

Then I made a big change and moved abroad to a city where there are lots of international people. Now I find myself with mostly 'explorer' type people and I have travelled so much in the last few years but I noticed that the explorers as I call them tend to struggle with the balance of doing new things and having stability in terms of relationships with friends and family.

I definitely feel more me, living this life abroad and travelling more, because I'm doing more of the things that I want to do but I would say that "happiness" is always just a fleeting moment and that for me, contentment means living my life with no regrets, with taking every opportunity I can, whilst not comparing myself anymore to others.

I don't know if contentment is enough. I think it depends on the person. Some people seem to need much less in way of exploring, challenges, growth etc than others. For me boredom = depression so I do much better finding ways to challenge myself and grow.

Interesting quote. Even so, I have not learned the niceties of living. Contentment must make way for survival.