Humans Will Never Be Content

The desire to want more keeps us unhappy and constantly urging to get more.

Throughout the history of us humans, one of the most frequently asked questions that has constantly ate at each one of our minds is, whether or not we can truly ever achieve full happiness and content with our life. It is rare to come across a person who can claim to be perfectly content with what he or she has, and has no desire or urge to obtain more, or to do better than what is done now. We all long to have more; more than what we already have, and even more than what others have.

If you were to give someone a great job, a beautiful house, and a great life, you would most likely find that the center of their desires never gets filled. Even if every last wish of yours were to come true, they would not last very long, and soon enough you would want something more, or something different. It seems so hard to understand whether or not a person is even capable with achieving satisfaction in their lives. It always seems that we crave more and more.

Even though it may sound too pessimistic, maybe craving for things and constant desire is in our very nature. Our nature has given us this ability to grow and evolve by constantly changing who we are and what our surroundings are. This is most likely the very reason why we never feel satisfied with the present condition we are in. We will always have that urge to strive to do better for ourselves in the future.

 

When it comes to comparing, the evils of comparison are much more implausible than we usually think them to be. Comparing our financial, emotional, social, or intellectual condition keeps us unhappy about our own lives, and leads to low self-esteem. This low self-esteem is what drives us to want more. We tend to rarely focus on our own unique talents and abilities, or what we already have. Comparing with others shifts our focus away from the positive aspects of our own life, and we tend to become disheartened, thinking about what others have that we do not.

 

Human beings have always had such curiosity about everything. This curiosity is what has helped us evolve out of the past and lead us to all of the technological and intellectual advancements we see today. But this very curiosity can be dangerous. It attracted us to things we never necessarily knew about, or what we have never had. We are always curious to find out more about objects or experiences that are new and unfamiliar to us. Hence, human curiosity has proved to be a double-edged sword.

 

We often tend to enjoy anything that is new and that has yet to be explored. It could be a new travel destination, or a new gadget that you plan to buy for yourself. Any positive change in our lives usually keep us happy and content for a certain amount of time, but soon the unavoidable boredom creeps in, and once again we begin to wish for some more changes and variety in life. This human nature to rejoice in change and diversity always keeps us dissatisfied with our day-to-day life and environment.

 

We are always quick to do so many things just to please others and to improve our image from their prospective. But trying to please everyone around us can be difficult and very temporary too. In our efforts to please others, we seem forget that they are people like us who are also never satisfied with anything for more than just a short period of time. So, trying to improve our self-esteem by creating a better impression on others never leads to any satisfaction. It is a cycle that does not stop spinning.

 

We all grow up in a society that praises those who have more and are considered to be better off than those who have less. We encourage ourselves to try harder to obtain more and more things without giving a second thought to whether or not we actually need them. We live in a world where 'more the merrier' is considered to be the only way towards achieving happiness. We forget that the best things in life are free, and do not indulge in doing the simple things that give us real contentment and happiness.

Us as humans can never really be completely content. For some reason we can be much more satisfied with ourselves if we try to determine how much is enough to keep ourselves happy, and limit ourselves to pursue only that much. Setting up realistic goals and aiming to achieve only that much can keep us away from any disappointments and regrets, and can eventually make us more content in our lives.

 

Otherwise, we would just be continuing to chase our desire for more and more things and yet, never attain satisfaction. The key is to understand that desiring and attaining what you want can never keep you fulfilled in the long run. We all have a choice to be happy with what we have right here and right now. The secret to contentment is to live in the present moment, and do things that you really want to do as an individual. If you are thankful and understand what you have, you will end up having more. Do not concentrate on the things that you do not have, for you will never, ever have enough.