Contentment Versus Fulfillment
A lot of people are content, but less people are fulfilled. Webster’s Dictionary defines contentment as the state of being happy and satisfied : the state of being content and defines fulfilled as : success in achieving (something) : made (something, such as a dream) true or real. There are variations of these definitions, but for our purpose today we will use the two definitions.
When I surveyed various individuals on how they defined these two the answers were all over the place. One of the most common themes was that an alarming majority felt like contentment was settling and trying to be happy with what they had…note the first part…settling for something less than what they desired. Fulfilled was mostly related to each person’s definition of success and most related to accumulation of material things and money, not necessarily personal achievement. The one interesting dynamic I noted is that most spiritually minded individuals were the most fulfilled…see they had a number one priority in their lives and they felt like they were achieving it.
Personally, I feel contentment is the easy one to achieve. It is fulfillment that eludes people. I would like to offer you a pathway to your personal fulfillment. Start and end each day by practicing gratitude. Upon awakening and before you go to bed, write down everything that comes to your mind that you are grateful for and I personally make myself list no less than tens things each time of what I am grateful for and this alone will allow you to feel content. When you are content and grateful for where you are, who you have become, then you can focus on the future. When you are grateful, then you can’t be a victim or feel sorry for yourself. Now it is time to focus on fulfillment. If fulfillment is succeeding in achieving something, then you have to first decide what your something is…what is your goals and dreams. It is so true that the graveyard is full of unborn ideas and people decide to die with their music inside of them. See you have to share yourself with the world, if you are going to be fulfilled and this is hard for many people. It makes you vulnerable and sometime uncomfortable and we live in a society where judgement is around every corner.
Fear holds so many people back from reaching the state of being fulfilled. The only way to be fulfilled is to feel the fear and take the necessary actions to make your dreams come true. It begins with willpower to find the courage to get started, then working on developing the skills or engaging the skillful people around you to make something a reality. Ask for help, find a mentor, and find someone whom you can emulate that has already been successful in that which you desire, but do NOT give up on your dream. Every master was once a disaster. The only thing holding so many back from being fulfilled is themselves. There is no one who can obtain your dreams for you…you have to put in the work. It will take grit, hustle, and sacrifices in the short term, but this will allow you to live a life of no regrets and go from contentment to fulfillment.
