Frustration Is A Good Thing

Are you content? This is a big question, right? Thank about it for a moment…Are you content? What’s the answer? Surely there are some areas in your life in which you are content, and some in which you are not. Are you content because you are truly satisfied? Or are you content because you don’t have what it takes to achieve your true potential? We all want to feel good. Humans are driven by biological and evolutionary forces to pursue pleasure rather than pain. We want to feel satisfied, contented and happy, and there is nothing wrong with this desire. We can trick ourselves in this pursuit, however. Once we achieve some modicum of safety and security in our lives, it can be easy to stop there. We may not have the wealth we desire, but we’re getting by. We may not feel that our partner is the love of our life, but we’re in a relationship, and that’s enough. We may not have started that business we really want to start, but we’re in a management position and life could be worse. After all, we don’t want to be greedy, right? Wrong! This mentality is called settling. It’s incredibly easy to give up once we’ve reached a certain point of contentment. If we want to succeed in a big way in any area of our lives and truly accomplish our greatest dreams, we must not give into contentment. In so many ways, Contentment is the enemy of Growth. How do we stay strong? By staying strong and true to our goals, we are fighting our most natural tendency - to run from pain. We are choosing pain and the discomfort of growth. This is a brave undertaking. First and foremost, we must learn to like frustration. Ever noticed that you have those friends who are always super uncomfortable when you’re frustrated? They always want to fix everything? Don’t listen to those friends! Frustration is a good thing. Frustration is the only motivator that will force you to change your life. Does this sound painful? The good news is that other things are more painful. Frustration is a great indicator when paid adequate attention to. It tells you that something in your life is amiss, and that you need to fix it before you damage yourself further. If you are frustrated about something in your life, don’t try to find ways to fix the frustration. Don’t numb that pain. Challenge your frustration! Are you frustrated because you don’t have enough money? Good. That frustration is a great indicator that something in your life is not functioning well. This is your chance to improve your lifestyle and become a better person. How can you challenge the circumstance that is causing you that frustration? How can you rise above the situation, or replace it with a new situation that adds value to your life? Stop running from frustration or getting bogged down and depressed by it. Stop allowing frustration to make you move backward. Instead, allow frustration to be a welcome thing in your life. Allow frustration to motivate you. Allow it to inform you. Allow it to shape you into a new and better human being.