Contentment. A calming word, one that evokes illusions of happiness, fulfillment, sitting in a warm living room on a cold night surrounded by people you love. It is safe to say that most everyone strives for contentment; contentment in relationships, jobs, physical appearances, life accomplishments. It's the 'point of life', to be fulfilled, isn't it?
Yet, while we all scramble through the motions of being accepted to prestigious colleges, taking a slew of interesting classes, and declaring a major, sometimes it is difficult to remember one thing. What is true fulfillment? Is contentment purely the effect of having a well paying job, the feeling of coming home to a full fridge and money left over at the end of the week? Or is it something else entirely? Perhaps, the people with whom we surround ourselves and the experiences we have, the happiness we can reap from writing a book that may not pay very much, or traveling with no plans with someone you love.
I am all too familiar with the phrase 'passion leads to success'. What is the definition of success? To many people, success is such a skewed concept, and the only way people feel as though they have truly lived a fulfilled life is if they utilize that major rightfully earned after slogging through four years of college, to obtain a well paying job that will lead to a career. Success is unique to each individual, but in a society that so fastidiously pokes and prods the youth to create the 'next big thing', what happens to those who are doing what they love but may not fit within the realms of what others would consider worthwhile.
In my opinion, fulfillment is overrated. While so many of my peers strive to be successful in every aspect of their youth in order to feel 'prepared' for the rough tides of the real world, they neglect to actually acknowledge that sometimes it is simply not what you do, how much money you make from a great job, but instead the people with whom you surround yourself.
American author Raymond Carver said, "I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone's heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making, not one of us moving, not even when the room went dark.” The human companionship that we take so for granted in a day in age of rushed and avoidant communication is what I consider to fulfill me in my life.
The grades I received on an MLA style research paper are not going equate fulfillment to me. Neither will snagging a coveted job, receiving my first paycheck, getting married. All these things are expected of me, they may be rewarding, certainly, but to me they are not fulfilling. At the end of the day, my fulfillment will come from surrounding myself with people, living breathing humans, who enlighten me, expose me to new experiences, and inspire me to pursue and accomplish the things that I truly care about.
