There’s a lot of misconceptions today about what it means to be happy and satisfied. The meaning seems to have shifted around a bit over time, and currently for many people, it doesn’t have all the importance that it could.
When you think of someone who’s successful, you imagine them as absolutely ecstatic, without a care in the world, and just living their life to its fullest extent. What many people don’t realize, though, is that there are a few different levels of personal satisfaction.
At the lowest level, you have extreme dissatisfaction. This is where you’re absolutely miserable. Your life is nowhere near where you want it to be. You don’t like your job, you don’t like your family, and you feel as if you’re just at a constant low point.
This point is a hard one to stay in. Next, you’d have discontent – a less extreme version of the prior level. At this stage, you’re just not quite happy with everything. Life is bearable, but that’s about it.
Your job might be stable, but it’s not enjoyable or good paying, and you probably don’t care for a few family members. Overall, life is just subpar. At this point, most people aim for the next stage up: satisfaction.
Life isn’t bad, but it’s not the best. Your job is alright, you count your blessings, and you’re just kind of content here. However, this is also the point in which you feel stuck most often.
This almost a sort of purgatory in which you’re not quite where you want to be, but you feel like you can’t advance much further. The stage people should be aiming for is bliss. This is the point at which you’re actually successful and you feel that way.
Here, you’re not just content with your life, you’re happy with it. You feel proud of your achievements, you’re doing things that you love, and you have good relationships. You’re genuinely happy.
That is the stage people should be aiming for. When people dream about their life plans, they seem to plan for mediocrity and just assume they’re going to peak at just being content.
Why stop there? Everyone should be striving for that absolute happiness, because if you don’t, you’re either going to end up feeling stuck or worse. By aiming high, the worst thing that’ll happen is you might stay stagnant or end up a bit happier than average. Either way, the only way to attain that kind of success is to chase it.
