Content, yet ambitious: finding balance in the chaos of being happy with where you’re at and striving for more
We are all expressions of the universe just trying to learn to cope with energy in motion on a daily basis. We are confronted with the ultimate life goal: being content with who we are right now, and where we are headed. When thinking forwards the future, there is an innate pressure to always become more than what we are.
When we are open and honest with ourselves, we start to understand on a deeper level who we are and what we want in life. We also begin to understand the journey we’re all on individually, and as a collective human race.
Individually, my life goals may be different from the person sitting right next to me. I might want to strive to be a famous writer, while another may want to be a self-made millionaire, or become a fitness coach, start a family, so on and so forth.
As a collective, life seems to always be about constant change and improving yourself, but people fail to realize how important it is to be happy with where you are currently at.
A lot of the time, people think that if you are striving for more, you’re not content with who you are in the current moment.
I don’t see it that way. Both ideals can coexist, and quite peacefully I may add. Unfortunately, there is a lot of chaos trying to balance out the pressure of the world and the expectations we feel we need to live up to, and the same time focusing on finding happiness in the mundane of our regular existence.
The first step to any major change in life is being content with where you are. You don’t have to be ecstatic for every situation that occurs in your life, but you just have to come to an acceptance of where you are, and learn to be okay with the present moment. The stoics and Buddhists had it right regarding being focused on the present moment. In my experience, I realized that being happy in the present moment is the only thing that can satisfy the void we feel when we are striving for more.
Once you come to an awareness that this is where you are, you can start planning for the future. Setting goals becomes less of a burden, and more of an excitement that we can look forward to. Even if we don’t meet all our goals, we are better human beings for having a plan than to travel through life aimlessly stuck in a void of despair wondering what is next for us.
On the topic of happiness, like any emotion, it’s a fleeting energy that comes and goes. But being content, is like happiness and acceptance mixed into one bundle that seems to be the ultimate goal. I like being content. I like knowing that I am happy with myself with where I am, and striving for more. I like knowing that I can choose to make changes and choose goals to allow for more of living my life’s passion, while finding the happiness in the everyday grind of life.
It’s a huge relief to finally accept the present moment, but it is through the struggle of obtaining our goals that we can appreciate our happiness a bit more, and decide how we want to live our lives as human beings.
Anything is obtainable, it just takes the right mindset to get through it all. It is absolutely possible to be content and ambitious, you just have to take baby steps and realize that setbacks are just small stepping stones to greater progress in our lives.
-Cecilia J. Sanders
