If you took the time to read this, you’re doing it wrong.  It’ll still be here Tuesday.

What do you think contentment looks and feels like?

*An umbrella drink on a cruise ship in the Western Caribbean?

*A big bank account?

*A “staycation” during a long weekend like the one in front of you (or just behind you if you did it right as suggested above)?

*Happy Family?

*Full belly?

*Snuggled in with your sweetheart next to a warm fire on a cold, blustery night?

*Somehow knowing you’re in the right place at the right time applying the right amount of energy and getting the expected results?

I ran into a former coworker at a recent industry event who asked me if I was content in my new job.  I wasn’t sure what to say.  I didn’t take the role to nestle in.  I wasn’t looking for content, I was looking for the opportunity to make a difference.  Content sounded too much like comfortable…and I don’t know how to do that.  Some personalities seek comfort and contentment.  At that moment I realized I seek challenge with intense curiosity so I said I think part of what drives me is that I am, by nature, discontented.  His response, “Words to live by!”

Maybe not or it depends where you apply it.  Life is seldom simple enough to use the same technique in each element of your life.  Different settings call for different behavior.

Now, as I near the end of my working toward the ever elusive completely-rewarding-through-excessive-sacrifice career, I start to recognize the vast difference between content at work and content in life.

Is this some contorted version of a midlife crisis or am I finally waking up?

To be discontented and drive for change, push for “more” in a Steve Jobs or J Paul Getty fanatic kind of way may be how I’m built but what do I look like at home?  A recent picture of family on a tour of Prince’s Paisley Park made me think of a number of things-

•I’m blessed to have such a loving and beautiful family

•Prince died too early as he strove for excellence in everything and has to leave behind fortune and fame

•I look like a guy who’s still wearing his uptight, discontented work face, even when I’m not at work

I can be content being discontented at work but I really need to appreciate how fortunate I am to be with loved ones and start being content in my skin and show it, not just say it.

Have a blessed and long weekend!