…8, 302, 5, 10!!!
This post is about valuing the existence of chaotic thought in a dotted-I, crossed-T, politically correct, smile-all-the-while, society. It might be a rant. I’m not sure. I’m open to labels here. The catalyst? Self-help memes, “don’t-be-negative”-esque comments on casual actual observations of the world around me, and mind-numbing chatter in an already overly saturated space… i.e. Facebook.
One day, while thanking a poster for a compliment they’d made on my physique, I noted that I was a bit dissatisfied. It wasn’t a complaint mind you. It was an acknowledgement: Part of my process for revising and moving forward. I was IMMEDIATELY chided. It went exactly like this: “You should be thankful. There are people out there who only dream of achieving what you have. Why can’t you be happy[…]”… blah, blah, blah.
Nowhere did I state that I was not thankful. Nowhere did I suggest that I was not happy. Still, automatically, the collective voice of the world bellowed its platitudes in an attempt to placate me in to complacency.
WHAT? My thoughts exactly.
Aren’t Satisfaction & Dissatisfaction both necessary existential facets? Why then do humans speak in absolutes, as if one need exist without the other?
Why do our circles insist on intoning the ever-irritating: “He’s never satisfied”, or “be content with what you have?”
Am I supposed to feel guilty for wanting more? Is attempting to make me feel guilty about wanting more, supposed to be ‘more ok’ than me harbouring thoughts of personal dissatisfaction?
I say BULLSHIT.
I wake each day with dissatisfaction at where I am.
Note: I did not say “I wake each day unhappy.” (- Why people see the two as synonymous is beyond me. Dissatisfaction is a lack of satisfaction. Satisfaction is a sense of fulfilment, or pleasure derived from fulfilling a goal. Pleasure is…well, you get the point.)
I’ve digressed.
Where was I? Oh yes! – I wake daily with a sense of dissatisfaction. I work endlessly through-out that day to see progress… and I end each night feeling satisfaction in what I’ve achieved. A cycle of self-actualisation set in motion by dissatisfaction.
This is Ying & Yang: balance; the anti-thesis of our over-sanitized-prozac-induced-pseudo-happy-sheep society. Self love & actualisation aren’t about perpetual contentment. They’re about the interplay of success, failure, Eureka moments, & growth.
Growth never manifests out of contentment. ‘Chaos’ is a catalyst for change. [1]
Change in a continuum = Growth.
Growth = a Good thing.
Correction. My maths was off a bit.
Growth = A GREAT THING.
So will you challenge yourself to grow? Or will you, today as every day, meander through life bleating the tenets of whatever self-help meme that happens to pops up in your time-line?
I challenge you to be dissatisfied.
Yours in fitness,
-C. Springer
http://www.getnarked.net
www.facebook.com/NarkSide
References:
1. Jonathan Marshall. The Psychological Significance of Chaos and Disorder. Canberra Jung Society Newsletter Autumn 2011
Apollo Fitness Barbados 
I think this happens a lot when the people commenting dislike the negative feeling of that you are getting down on them from where they are for not being happy with where you are. As if the dissatisfaction had reflects badly on them..
I’ve experienced this academically. If everyone else got a B and you get an A- and you happen to say you wish you had done better you are crucified. I told a friend recently:
“Don’t let them pull you down to the level of mediocrity that they have decided is standard.”
Agreed!
Thank you SO much for commenting.