I have a client who I have been meeting with for close to a year. This client is a teenager who is in his senior year of high school. He is very driven, and laser focused in his classes. However, he will tend to set rather high and sometimes unrealistic goals and will be devastated when he does not reach those goals.
“Jackson” is a very smart student. So smart that he is actually teaching one the classes at his school to middle schoolers. Jackson excels in Drama and has already been accepted into a school with a top drama program.
A good session with the client is when he does not have much to say which means things have been going well. Sessions where Jackson is more vocal is when things have not been going so well. Our last session I asked the client how he would summarize how he feels, and his answer was “I’m content.” An answer I was a bit taken off guard hearing.
The work with Jackson has been getting him to base his self-worth on what he thinks of himself versus what others think of him. The class Jackson teaches is drama and Jackson said several of the students have come up to him expressing how much they do not like him. Given this did not do him any favors, Jackson did not take this as harshly as I thought he would have.
A big milestone Jackson realized is that not everyone is going to like him. As he described the students that come up to him saying they did not like him, he said that he suddenly understood why everyone is not going to like him and that is okay. This was largely his reasoning for saying he was “content.”
He definition of contentment is a state of happiness and satisfaction. Being content means being satisfied with what you already have without comparing yourself to what you could be or could have. Being content is being pleased with where you are being fully aware of your faults. Being content does not mean improvements can’t be made.
A content person is someone who is in the process of meeting a large goal. This goal could be to get into better shape, lose weight or cutting down on something harmful in their life. A content person knows all too well their flaws but they give themselves the benefit of the doubt.
If you are looking for a therapist near you then a Google search is a great way of finding one. I happen to be a therapist in Charlotte, NC but am licensed to counsel anyone in the state of North Carolina. In Google, try looking for “psychotherapist,” “find therapist,” “therapy near me,” or even “counseling charlotte, nc.” If you feel like you have hit a wall you are not able to get past, call me at (704) 458-6298 or email me at jeffhelms@clearerthoughtspllc.com.
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