How To Be Content Without Being Complacent

Content or complacent?  How often have you heard the word “content” stresses throughout the course of you lifetime?  Contentment is a true virtue, and most likely you heard the topic discussed from an older, wiser, well-experienced individual.  Finding true contentment in life is an incredibly satisfying element of personal happiness and well-being.  Learning to see the positives in your circumstance eliminates complaining, minimizing negativity surrounding you, and helps avoid the line of thinking that everyone else has it better than you.  In short, contentment is critical to a happy existence as a human being.

Where I start to see the contentment mindset slip closer towards a very dangerous cliff, is when it fringes on complacency.  And, all too often, the two subjects get blurred.  Let’s be clear right up front.  Webster’s dictionary defines “content” as a peace and calmness.  Ahhh, that sounds nice.  Peace and calmness.  Contrast that with the dictionary definition of “complacent”, which includes the phrase, “being unaware of dangers or deficiencies.”  Wow!  That sounds sucky.

The problem is, at times, people will push a “contentment” agenda when being critical of those looking to make changes.  And, contrarily, complacency, easily gets distorted as contentment.  In other words, if interpreted incorrectly, the two get mixed up.  One of them is a virtue, the other is a crippling trait.  No one should want to be complacent.  It’s awful, and certainly not a defining quality that anyone should want.

Complacency keeps people lazily sitting on the couch night after night, bored, and miserable, yet doing nothing about their future plans or goals.  Contentment puts on the attitude of “maybe I’m not where I want to be right now, but I’m thankful for what I have” and then simultaneously mapping out the rest of their life and hustling hard to achieve it.

Which are you?  Are you content with your circumstances, and truly grateful for all you have?  Or, are you stuck, miring around in your own doing?  Heed the warning – be very careful that you’re thinking of contentment, doesn’t spread into the area of complacency.

Be thankful.  But be challenged!

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