I definitely feel this one. I've been chasing contentment my whole life but I've always felt like certain things needed to happen first, or I needed to change myself, etc. It's taken me a long time to be able to stay more present and appreciate where I am while also understanding I can still strive for more/ better.
It’s such a tricky balance some days, hey? The cycle of social media doesn’t really help either! I find I’m really disconnected and discontent when I spend any time scrolling these days, but that’s how it keeps you on the hook.
Are there mantras you keep coming back to as you shift your mindset towards that of contentment?
I'm definitely trying to focus on how I want to feel as the starting point, knowing that will shift over time as well. There are certain things I keep coming back to, though, so focusing on things I already do/have that make me feel that way is helpful.
This really resonates with me. I’ve always had mixed feeling about Christmas and tend toward Grinch-habits, whilst Nathan’s always been the Christmas elf. It’s always been a bit of banter between us, until last year when we spent our first Christmas apart in over ten years. Since our circumstances have changed, our future holidays won’t ever look the same as what we had, and we were both getting pretty hung up on that earlier in the year, almost grieving for something we never even really had (read: the magical Christmas with all of “our” traditions). So I decided to reframe the situation. Away from expectation and toward, coincidentally, contentment. And it’s actually gone a long way to changing our perception of the situation, and even making us both cautiously excited for the season ahead.
I didn’t know you were a Christmas Grinch, awe 🫢 But it sounds like you were listening to the wisdom of your feelings and grieving what you maybe hoped to have (very real and very valid!), as well as shifting your perceptions and hopefully meeting in the middle between Christmas elf and Christmas Grinch.
What mantras have you been reminding yourself of as you do this?
I definitely feel this one. I've been chasing contentment my whole life but I've always felt like certain things needed to happen first, or I needed to change myself, etc. It's taken me a long time to be able to stay more present and appreciate where I am while also understanding I can still strive for more/ better.
It’s such a tricky balance some days, hey? The cycle of social media doesn’t really help either! I find I’m really disconnected and discontent when I spend any time scrolling these days, but that’s how it keeps you on the hook.
Are there mantras you keep coming back to as you shift your mindset towards that of contentment?
I'm definitely trying to focus on how I want to feel as the starting point, knowing that will shift over time as well. There are certain things I keep coming back to, though, so focusing on things I already do/have that make me feel that way is helpful.
This really resonates with me. I’ve always had mixed feeling about Christmas and tend toward Grinch-habits, whilst Nathan’s always been the Christmas elf. It’s always been a bit of banter between us, until last year when we spent our first Christmas apart in over ten years. Since our circumstances have changed, our future holidays won’t ever look the same as what we had, and we were both getting pretty hung up on that earlier in the year, almost grieving for something we never even really had (read: the magical Christmas with all of “our” traditions). So I decided to reframe the situation. Away from expectation and toward, coincidentally, contentment. And it’s actually gone a long way to changing our perception of the situation, and even making us both cautiously excited for the season ahead.
I didn’t know you were a Christmas Grinch, awe 🫢 But it sounds like you were listening to the wisdom of your feelings and grieving what you maybe hoped to have (very real and very valid!), as well as shifting your perceptions and hopefully meeting in the middle between Christmas elf and Christmas Grinch.
What mantras have you been reminding yourself of as you do this?