Content: A Mid-Year Check-In

For my long-standing practice of choosing a single word by which to live for the year, this year I chose Content:

This is a word that I’ve been talking about quite a lot in therapy lately. It’s mostly been in reference to my career: what I want to still achieve, how I need to feel a certain level of challenge to feel like I’m doing what I should. And alongside that, there’s a part of me that always wants to chase the next thing. This can be good for motivation, but it can also cause me to move on from something before I really should. It can also nurture the mindset that no matter how much I do, I still need to do more to be complete, and to be seen as capable by others.

The question has been put to me more than once, “What would it look like for you to feel content?” And since I’ve yet to come up with an answer that I find satisfying, it seems like a good question to intentionally sit with for the next year.

So far, this year’s word has been markedly different than those of years’ past.

I usually identify one or more activities that help me reflect on or remember my word, such as keeping a logbook for Joy and making a vision board for Center. So far, no such practice has emerged.

That is not to say that Content has not had a presence in my year, or that I’ve forgotten or ignored it. In fact, I have kept it in mind almost every day. It just hasn’t taken a tangible form. Rather, it has been marked instead by an application of the question from above–What would it look like to feel content?–to different possibilities and scenarios.

Something I’ve planned doesn’t pan out the way I wanted: I remind myself to be content with what is. A question related to my vocation rises: I realize that I’m actually content with how things are for now. An opportunity arises to experience something different or new: I tell myself that stepping outside of my usual habits could lead to contentment.

This has been more of a consciousness exercise than one featuring tangible objects or step-by-step activities. That could change between now and December. But in keeping with my word, I can be content with how things have gone so far.