Seems like the vast majority of the human species is striving for something. Which is probably a fine and good thing... but how often are we actually getting what we want out of our lives?
What makes me think about this is the way we often bust our butts to reach or have something... and then end up feeling either let down or empty when we finally accomplish our goal.
"It wasn't as good as I thought it would be..."
I think of my friend who scrimped and saved and finally bought a new Lexus... but within a month or so, the novelty had worn off, and she realized that her life was actually no better at all as a result of having the car.
Maybe it's because I have reached the age of "Old Fart-hood" that I increasingly recognize the difference between a sense of lasting contentment and the temporary "Dopamine high" people get from striving to have external stuff in their lives.
Marketers are — of course — extremely clever in the way they persuade us that our lives will be better/perfect if we "have" some particular object or experience. Sadly, in the vast majority of instances, that isn't how it turns out.
The other thing that's increasingly evident is the way "they" try to persuade us to want things we actually don't want but somehow there's enough FOMO attached to the state of not-having these things that people spend extensive effort and funds in their pursuit of them.
Yes, I'm a lousy "consumer." In fact, I have pretty much always been a lousy "consumer."
This leaves us with the question of how and where and when we derive our actual contentment in life.
Contentment is a pretty awesome thing to have; that sensation that you actually like your life, precisely as it is. And you have lots of gratitude for that.
I feel very content, crawling around with my camera, with my nose in plants and flowers; chasing butterflies and whatever else.
Does it serve any real purpose, aside from occasionally gracing the pages of this blog? I certainly don't get paid for taking pictures, and it definitely doesn't... produce... anything of significance to society.
But I feel pretty content.
Of course, being content doesn't necessarily mean that everything is perfect all the time, nor that there is never anything to complain about. Far from it!
And therein lies perhaps another fallacy we have been sold... that being happy is a state we can/should expect to sustain all the time.
Good luck with that!
I just enjoy my moments and I enjoy being (mostly) a non-consumer of so-called "consumer goods." It wasn't always so... as I can prove by all the "stuff" I am slowly divesting myself of, via eBay!
So, do I get pretty much everything I want out of my life? Honestly, I don't have very much I want to "get out of" my life... and that's working out pretty well!
Thanks for reading, and have a great rest of your week!
How about YOU? Are you getting what YOU want, out of your life? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20211025 23:24 PDT
0380/1621
@denmarkguy - total gold my friend! These two sentences beg repeating in my mind:
"Contentment is a pretty awesome thing to have; that sensation that you actually like your life, precisely as it is."
AND
"And therein lies perhaps another fallacy we have been sold... that being happy is a state we can/should expect to sustain all the time."
Gold. Gold. Gold.
Thanks for sharing your contentment, photographs and insights with us <3
Thank you @consciouscat!
I at least try to live up to a favorite quote, generally attributed to Gandhi:
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony"
In this case, I prefer to use contentment.
We often fill our lives with "things" we really don't need, get into debt over excessive objects.
Throughout my life my main goal each year has been to get far from city life into the country similar to my parents. Avoiding many luxury items that may make life easier to rather invest into time spent away in nature.
The older one is we also realize that we arrive with nothing, we can take nothing with us, all those "things" slowly get sold or given away having less meaning as we downsize to enjoy another era in our cycle of life.
In recent years, I have been trying to divest myself of things, and mostly using the funds (when there were some) from selling those things to buy things like seeds and plants for our garden, materials to build raised beds and such things...
I can't take things with me, but maybe the fruit trees I plant today will help feed someone, after I am gone. Or, at least, offer them a tasty moment of happiness.
Planting today for next generation, trees and gardens a brilliant way to go!
Wishing you a wonderful new month!
I have always been somewhat frugal, with the exception of a couple hobbies I need to find more time to enjoy. I am growing disenchanted with the prescribed path to success, working 5 days a week on someone else's schedule. I like the library, but I dislike the lack of opportunities to be spontaneous. Mind you, I am not a very spontaneous person, but still...
I "get it" about hobbies; I spent a fair amount on my stamp collection pretty much since my late teens because it offered me some ongoing enjoyment and a bit of a challenge. It stood me in really good stead because some 7-8 years ago I was able to sell most of it for enough to cover a lot of my wife's medical expenses after a couple of shoulder surgeries...
I never held any "real" jobs for very long; the longest being about a 3-year stint in the IT industry in the mid- to late 1990's... I bailed out (even though I was "successful") because it was just such a soul-draining experience.