One of my favorite quotes about destination addiction says “beware of destination addiction: the idea that happiness is the next place, the next job, or even the next partner. Until you give up the idea that happiness is somewhere else, it will never be where you are.”
We tend to get asked by others “what’s next?” Soon after, we may even start to ask ourselves the same question, especially when we get overwhelmed or bored with the current season of life that we’re in.
I think it’s great to walk into a new environment, opportunity, or relationship with a positive outlook. However, when we place all of our happiness or hope in that thing, we can become broken when that same thing lets us down.
In the past, I have written about how not to let frustration get the best of you and how to guard yourself against it. However, one thing I failed to mention was the importance of practicing contentment.
If I could define contentment in my own words, I would describe it as maintaining your peace while realizing how blessed you are regardless of whether or not a desire of yours is fulfilled.
Reflecting on my 2019, I had placed so much confidence in my job not disappointing me, instead of God. What I thought was a dream job turned into a nightmare. Toward the latter part of the year, the situation at my job continued to grow from bad to worse and I was forced to deal with a difficult co-worker on a daily basis.
I began to look for other opportunities (destination addiction) within the company, but of course, God wasn’t going to pull me out of this situation at the snap of my fingers. He was going to take his time (months actually lol) until I learned to reach the destination of contentment.
When I write about contentment, I’m not saying that I learned to be happy with a work environment that was unhealthy for me. That would be false. I’m not going to lie and say I started to pray and things got better between myself and my co-worker. Things never really changed between us.
However, after I started getting rejection emails from jobs, I knew that I was going to be in this situation for longer than I had hoped. I had to start reframing my mind to say even though this situation doesn’t seem fair to me; God is still good, God is still with me, and God still favors me.
This situation forced me to place my contentment in Jesus alone (Philippians 4:11).
By the time the New Year came, I had already been waiting to hear from a particular job for two months. I was placed on hold and heard nothing further from them. I intended not to let destination addiction get the best of me this time and I literally said out loud to myself that even if I don’t get this job, I would be alright. This job looked good on paper and it really had everything I was looking for, but I made up my mind that whether or not they picked me, I was still blessed.
After waiting to hear back for almost three months, I was offered the position and recently started my new position this past week.
You might be reading this and be thinking that of course, it’s easy for me to write about being content because I got the job. That’s a valid point. However, even though things are great so far and I don’t anticipate experiencing what I went through before, things will not always be perfect. For the first time in my career, I’ve started a new job with the contentment that comes from God alone. People change, situations change, and opportunities change.
Whether or not you get:
- The job
- The money
- The vacation
- The house
- The friendship
- The marriage
- The family
- The support
- The admiration
Still be content, because God never changes (Hebrews 13:8).
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