Seek Contentment

Periodically throughout the past two years, I have written about the cryptic messages I have received in Fortune Cookie Fortunes. Most refer to something that's supposed to happen (though none really have), while others have delved into my character, or guessed at something I was focused on (some of which have actually been too close for comfort at times).

Some, however, are directives. One more or less told me I should help improve literacy by eating more Fortune Cookies (and presumably, therefore, read more Fortune Cookie Fortunes).

Most of this latter kind come from Panda Express, such as the one I'm sharing today:

Seek Contentment.

Thanks, Fortune Cookie Fortune.

Now, I realize that I'm not the only one who received such a fortune, and no, I don't take a whole lot of stock in them. However, as a thought experiment, I think it's fine to try to determine what a fortune means to me.

Immediate Reaction

Seek contentment... as opposed to what? Discontent?

In reality, don't most of us seek contentment? Aren't we looking for something that will make us happy? That can take on various forms—love, success, fame, etc., or their opposites—solitude, anonymity, mediocrity. Okay, maybe the last one there isn't something purposeful in most cases, but settling, or being okay with the status quo regardless of what it is because leaving it is a lot of work, too hard, or not worth the effort, is pretty much being okay with just okay.

Follow That Thought

Which may be where contentment lies, because being rich, recognizable, and No. 1 has its drawbacks, too. Most of us would consider problems a wealthy person has to be no big deal—they've got money, who cares. But that's not really true, either. If you've been around long enough you know that money doesn't solve every problem, and it can produce more of them than having a lot of money is ultimately worth.

And money can run out very quickly.

Handled correctly, though, money is like any other tool we might use to make life a little better, a little easier, etc.

How Do I Reach Contentment?

I think the answer to that for me is balance.

For me to be content, I need to have adequate time for family, God, making an income, and for me. There really isn't an order to those things, because they are of equal significance and importance. When they're really working, they're actually overlapping and bolstering each other.

The only one that I would want to reduce the time doing rather than increasing is the hours required daily to make a living. If it just came in while I was doing the other three, that would be great.

Speaking Of Which

And I've spent a lot of my adult life trying to get to that point where money isn't something I have to constantly put time into. Building a business, surrounding myself with good people, and then providing them with the tools and compensation they needed to be successful and motivated and empowered to make decisions within their own spheres of responsibility reduced my workload and so unless there were fires to put out (and there were on a regular but not constant basis), I had a lot of time for other things.

I just never got to the point where I could completely walk away. It was just a pretty long tether.

Writing Books

I finished and self-published two novels with the intent of creating enough sales where I could pump out a novel or two once a year and then spend the rest of my time doing whatever.

Side Businesses

I've looked at all kinds of different web related businesses, ones that could generate income without me necessarily having to be there. Downloadable content, if you will, that people pay for. Or sites where people write reviews for products that contain affiliate links. Google Ad revenue.

STEEM

I've been working and investing in STEEM now for two years. I intend to continue to do so. If something else comes along that's better, I might try it, too. I'll need to see that it's actually better first.

It's an investment in the future, though, so now I'm working a job that can be 30 hours one week and 45 the next.

The Opposite Of Contentment

In fact, for the last seven months, I've been going in the other direction from contentment. My wife's and I schedules sync up maybe one day a week, if we're lucky. I don't have vacation time until I've been working for a year, and she has to ask for her vacation time months in advance.

Time

In reality, being free to do what I need or want to do, when I want or need to do it, is the ultimate in contentment. That means a certain amount of wealth, but not a lavish lifestyle. When I owned the newspaper business, I was able to pay myself enough that we didn't live from paycheck to paycheck. We probably could have afforded a more expensive home on more land, or we probably could have traveled more or bought more toys.

We took vacations and we bought some toys, but we also saved and paid off a lot of our debt. Good thing, too, as the income from the business dried up and we had to live off of our savings and having a small amount of debt helped tremendously.

I had time to be at my boys' football practices and games, to homeschool them for two years, and drive them back and forth from college when the time came for moving back in and then back out.

Not Asking Much

I don't think any of that is a big ask. Yet, I know my parents never really achieved that level like I did. Even so, it didn't last, and now I'm back to working for someone else. And while there are quite a few things I like about the work I do (I could certainly do, and have done, far worse), the idea of trading time for money, and my worth being determined by someone else, business bottom lines and other circumstances that I can't control, goes against the grain.

I'm just not, and never have been, built that way. I like being my own person, and not being reliant on someone else's ability to run a business for my own livelihood.

So, What You Going To Do About It?

Good question. I'm not sure if I have an answer. I know what the end or the destination looks like. It's the getting back there I don't have mapped out yet.

The last time, with the newspaper business, it ultimately required giving up a decent paying but soul-sucking job with the State to work 80-plus hour weeks for very little return in the beginning, to the point where we were heading toward bankruptcy and my wife was working a part-time job (and our children were feeling neglected) before things turned around. And even then, it wasn't so much my doing, as it was my eventual partner acquiescing (to become my partner).

Talk about walking a tightrope without a net. No way my wife would allow me to do that now, and I don't think I have the energy to do that all again.

Something Else Will Have To Give

STEEM hitting even $1 again would be a nice start. Folks suddenly finding my books I've already published would be great.

Creating new works would probably mean no more time for STEEM, at least in the interim, since the few hours a day I dedicate here would be taken up in the creating.

All I know is, something has to give, and I'm not in a position yet to just say goodbye to the job right now.

But that doesn't mean it can't or won't happen. I've already set my sights on September of this year, and I figure if I put a deadline out there with a reasonable timeframe instead of leaving it indefinite that maybe, just maybe, the cosmic forces required to realign (or divine intervention, however you prefer to define that) and my own will can set things in motion.

I'd also like to move to a warmer, sunnier (but not so drier) clime, and get us out of the two story house we've been in for nearly 15 years. It was okay with the boys growing up, but my wife's knee isn't what it used to be and I'm not getting any younger myself. Even a two story with the master on the first floor would work. We just don't need to be climbing stairs every night just to go to bed.

So There You Have It

My road to contentment begins with balance and ends with what I suppose is most commonly called financial freedom.

Now, I just need to get things going in the direction I want them to go.

Thanks for the thought experiment, Fortune Cookie Fortune. For real this time.

_{Image courtesy of Glen Anthony Albrethsen}