Being Content Where You Are

Content. kənˈtent/ in a state of peaceful happiness. a state of satisfaction.

When I saw the February prompt for the Peony Project monthly link-up, I kind of brushed it off. I wanted to link-up, but I didn’t want to write about being content. 

Last fall I wrote a lot about being in a season of waiting and how I was strugging with being patient to find out what I was going to do post-college graduation. I shared how I was waiting for God to open the right doors for me and lead me in that direction. For some reason I thought having a set plan would dissolve those impatient feelings of wondering what’s next.

Fast forward to now and I’ve been teaching media/journalism at a high school for a solid month. Bam there is my post-grad plan. I got a job and now I’m working. Praise the Lord all my problems are solved. But that’s still not enough. I’m still not content.

I always want more. I’m always thinking and dreaming ahead. What’s next? What’s next? What’s next? And after that what’s next?

I’m constantly seeing what other people my age are doing and wonder why I’m not doing the same. I have best friends going to grad school. I have best friends who are married and expecting their first babies. There are people getting engaged. There are people studying in different countries. I see bloggers who make a living off of their writing and pictures. I see and I compare and I wonder why I’m not doing that.

I’ve been teaching for only a month and get frustrated that I haven’t already mastered the content I’m supposed to be teaching. I’ve been eating Paleo for two weeks along with CrossFit and am hoping to get results because I’m still not content with my body. My boyfriend lives 1000 miles away from me and that just plain sucks. I feel like my college degree isn’t enough and there is pressure to get my Master’s and I absolutely hate that. Sometimes I wish I had more followers on my blog and better pictures on my blog and get caught up in the blogger comparison game. Not being content is an ugly, frustrating thing.

The phrase “bloom where you’re planted” comes to my mind as I’ve been thinking and writing this post. This season I am in now will only last for a season and who knows how long that is. Life will continue to flow and change in ways I can’t even imagine. So here I am in a new job that I love with a college degree in my hand. I have a body that has gotten stronger and can do things I never expected thanks to CrossFit. I have a boyfriend who I have no arguments with and who is my constant “cheerleader” on the sidelines. I have this blog space and blog community. There are people who read my blog whether some days there only 2 readers or 20. I have no reason not to be content. 

So I’m going to be mindful of being content where I am now and hush the voices that constantly push me to want more. God has blessed me with a beautiful life and has provided me with everything I need to be in a constant “state of peaceful happiness.”

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

This is a monthly link up with The Peony Project.