Reap from Contentment

To be content, to be happy with how things are in one's life is such a sensation. There is a worthy course to unravel to get to this and I care to find out. I feel like I get to this point and then relax, to find myself in a constant longing all over again (bad habit). This is why I felt the need to explore and then express on this as I focus on growth.

For the past four years my description of self to be a selective introvert is on some serious tour. I have had to make a fool of myself trying to learn siSwati, providing service in a remote area to a diverse community that is in-transit, country to country for different reasons. This has lead me to understand how far people are willing to go to experience something different and just as well for some, make a living. As you can imagine, it is a touch and go environment. Some brave souls who are regulars there try their best to get comfortable and scrape for any kind of normalcy. The socialites thrive as you literally meet a lot of people day and night. There are those who are building around it, as it is (settled) and some like me who have dreams and plans to get to elsewhere. At first, it was a struggle as it was clear it is not a place for permanent deals. This means, a lot of confusion and desperation to exit was a big thing. As you dive into finding ways to leave a place that is promising to dampen your ambitions, being fearful of the unknown ultimately leaves you uninspired. You do not value what is happening around you but concern yourself with what should be and could be better. This in essence, means a lot of dissatisfaction all the way to ungratefulness.

In my journey, all the attempts to find a way out needed to bring out fast results to my favour and a lot of time and resources definitely got wasted. It took at least two years to learn that some situations are just not the type for a quick fix and shortcuts. The long road to "my kind of freedom-ideal place of work" challenged my patience. I am glad to say I did not run away from this but did commit to a longer route to a much more productive, smart and rewarding output. I am proud of myself for since I accepted and committed to get on with it, I have grown to actually notice and value the positive side of what the current situation entails. Not only do I now have a higher chance at expanding my horizons, I am content with what I have to climb the ladder by. I now have an awareness to my SWOT analysis. I have some serious growing to do and a lot of opportunities to optimize. The time I was busy trying to find a way out, I was actually stereotyped into a downhill spiral to redundancy. I couldn't see the weaknesses I needed to be aware of nor the strengths I could maximize on. The so called challenges that threatened other areas of my life definitely limited my reasons to be hopeful. This was in a nut shell, retrogression. I was not going to grow to be the person I am today had I insisted on trying to find the fastest way out.

By the grace of God, this is the closest I've been to satisfaction, not because all is great and well positioned, but for I am fully aware of what I have and what I can achieve. I know that there is no reason to not look beyond what is, at the same time very much appreciative of where I am at. It is not where I was and that is enough. I am transcending!

Every now and then I meet people who can't wait to move on to the next destination career wise. Self-comparison and bench-marking becomes a daily thing. I always look at them and see who I used to be. A person who knows their worth but not understanding why they are where they are and feeling like elsewhere is better. I also recall how unimaginative I was because every solution just did not give instant results. If you are making a living this way (somewhere you are trying to escape from), a lot of your self-belief gets through the most. You have a hard time being productive and see a lot of things that are just not right about your position. Even if you have no trouble being professional, you surely will have trouble feeling like you have a purpose in life. Those around you who seem to be well-suited really do not make sense to you and at times, they intimidate you. You just do not understand how they can possibly be excited about the same environment that is depleting you. I am very aware of that feeling that you are trapped and of misfortune which can't be helped when you are doing a job that does not challenge and excite you. The saying that at least you have a job really does not help ease this kind of battlefield, it just adds more pressure to keep doing something you really don't want to in order to be practical and realistic. This is truly humbling!

Anyways, with hope that you relate to all said previously, it is now time to encourage one another. This is a matter of learning to be grateful in order to cultivate happiness no matter what. I spent a lot of time reading on contentment just so that I can share more than just my own personal experiences. I found interesting content that can help. According to Mayo clinic, some of the ways to manage stress when trying to live happy concerns being grateful in expression and working on your optimism. You can check it out as the link is to the end of this piece. This is actually in resonance to finding your way into being satisfied even though not all is just right. In no doubt, when you are longing for something else than what you have and having no hope or fast way to it, stress is inevitable. I had to acknowledge this and even get counselling to manage. You know there is this career counselling initiatives and employee relations divisions in most institutions, well, make use of them. There is no taboo in this but some serious relief. It can really be a stepping stone to contentment. I highly recommend it. Even when you feel like all is well, this kind of support can really help you catch on things that need your attention, both positive and negative.

From the day I began to account, acknowledge and confront my dissatisfied feelings with intentions to self-manage in a healthier manner, my outlook of life changed. I do not feel like everything is hopeless. I do not get touchy when people fail to get why I do things the way I do. I do not make everything about my current situation feel like a closed boxed. I am always aware that the world is just way too big for me to feel stuck in just my current location, literally. The way out most times is embedded on embracing the journey rather than a chosen destination. As I opened up to getting help, new perspectives manifested. Given that I work irregular hours, I have way too much free time. All that free time became an opportunity to do things that add to a much more assertive professional. I ended up opening myself to a whole paradigm shift. I now know that the hard way to getting somewhere better is carrying with a lot more than just sweat but sweet revelations. Many people tend to think it associated with not being smart to stick things out when a shortcut is in their face. I would encourage you to think about the easy way out and imagine how the quality of what you are trying to achieve would be like. Think about whether you would be confident sharing that experience to someone who looks up to you like your child for instance. Think about whether you would be content with it and most importantly, who you became through it.

This is a matter of growth through contentment. This is about you and I investing in ourselves in ways worth mentioning, ways that truly matter. This is about making something with what you have and not always long for what we think we want at the expense of the needs gracefully already met. I am just saying, it takes guts to be happy even when in lack and with a lot will, one can do anything through Christ who strengthens...

We can all grow through learning to be content. It surely is a matter of transcending. Contentment is literally an enabler to finding more and more ways out of your confinement. It helps you generate reasons to live not neglecting what you already have but using it to your benefit. It is your key to resilience, optimism and healthy drive to live. This I know Matters and You Matter.

I fed on Philippians Chapter four (4) to have this come together as it did. I needed more on this and found My Source . Do check it out!

Regards

LT