Forget about learning how to deal with problems; learn how to be “content” with yourself.
As we learn and grow from young children through adulthood, learning how to “solve problems” is a big piece of how we grow and interact with others. Being able to solve problems is certainly a great skill to have, but what often-times gets overlooked is learning how to be content with yourself, be happy with yourself, your job, your friends, etc.
Now, I don’t mean complacent. Read that again, just to make sure you got it.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines complacent as:
“feeling so satisfied with your own abilities or situation that you feel you do not need to try any harder.”
Complacency leads to laziness, feelings of disinterest, and detached. I definitely don’t want you feeling like that.
So, back to learning how to be “content”. Every day, we deal with problems. Work problems, life problems, car problems, etc. We seemingly need to solve problems all the time. But we spend very little time (in comparison) trying to make ourselves happy – OR – even understanding what actually makes us happy.
There’s no quick fix to learning how to be content, but it certainly starts with taking a few moments each day to try to quiet your mind and reflect on what makes you happy. (This can even be done on your commute to work or some other period of time similar to that.) As you start to develop your list, you’ll become more aware of the activities in your daily life that don’t necessarily align with your list of happiness. Now that you’ve gotten this far, you can start to take steps to realign your daily activities with those that make you happy (or happier!).