Thank you to Rachel Cruze and the team at Ramsey Solutions for sponsoring this post! As always, all opinions are my own.

It’s challenging when discontentment rears it’s ugly head in our home yet again.

It may seem like since we’ve managed to meet some pretty amazing financial goals that we would no longer feel discontent – I mean, there are now very few obstacles standing in our way of making our dreams a reality.

However, discontentment doesn’t care how far you’ve come; it only cares about what you don’t yet have. It only cares about where you haven’t achieved success yet and how far from “perfect” your life is.

In times like these, where discontentment is high, I think it’s important to take a step back and ask ourselves:

What is going well right now in our lives?

What is not going well right now in our lives?

And after we’ve determined the answers to those two questions, I believe it’s important to figure out how we can change our mindsets. Because…

When you change your mindset, you change your outlook.

Changing our mindsets from “I can’t quit the job that I hate because I have so much debt” to “When can I payoff $3,000 of my debt in order to quit the job that I hate” allows you to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

You know that once you’ve paid off that $3,000 of debt, you’ll have more room in your budget to quit a job you don’t enjoy in order to pursue a career that maybe doesn’t pay as well.

Changing your mindset can change how your world looks.

If you determined that there are changes that need to be made – like revisions to your financial goals, or debt payoff plan, set aside time to write down the changes that you will make and create a plan to implement those changes.

Just like in order to succeed with budgeting and effective money management, you have to stick with your budget, you’ll have to work to stick to your plan even on the hard days when discontentment is high and obstacles abound.

Love Your Life Not Theirs

Speaking of discontentment, I absolutely love this quote from Rachel Cruze’s new book, Love Your Life Not Theirs:

“What our culture tells us is that debt is the key to unlocking the secret door to endless happiness, joy, and satisfaction. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Debt will always deliver just the opposite. Debt will always leave you stressed, frustrated, and simply wanting more.” – Rachel Cruze

I think this happens to many of us. And honestly, this is why I’m so against credit cards – because they’re temptation to spend more than you have. Truthfully, I don’t want to have to fight off that temptation every time I see a new handbag or want a fancy coffee drink. Which, for me those are just two of my spending weaknesses and by only using cash for purchases, I avoid the temptation of spending more than I really have. 

But our culture does in fact, tell us that debt is the key to making all our dreams a reality and that the more we have the happier we’ll be, when in fact, usually the exact opposite is true. The less we have, the more room in our lives we have for the things that truly matter. 

“Contentment isn’t a place you get financially; it’s a place you get emotionally and spiritually.”

Again, I think Rachel is right that contentment isn’t a number on a spreadsheet but instead is a state of mind. Just like several places in the Bible refer to dwelling in the shelter (or “secret place” depending on the version you’re using) of the Lord and finding peace there; there is no physical place or thing that will provide contentment. 

Contentment comes from within. 

It comes from finding peace in that you no longer owe everyone and their grandmother money. That you can effectively manage your money and avoid the stress, anxiousness and worry that comes from not knowing how much money you have. 

Quit the Comparisons

I know, I know, you’ve heard it countless times, “keeping up with the Joneses” and you know by now that it’s always a terrible idea to keep up with that infamous family. BUT, I think it’s important to realize, just like how Rachel points out in her book, that the way we keep up with the Joneses has changed. 

You see way back when, during my childhood and my parents’ childhood, and even their parents’ childhoods, in order to keep up with the Joneses, you actually had to see the Joneses in person. You had to actually see that new Cadillac in the driveway – in person – not on Facebook. 

So even though this saying has been around for forever, it’s actually never been more relevant. Because as we’re scrolling through our newfeeds or IG feeds we’re getting a glimpse at other people’s real lives (or at least the lives they show us). And these aren’t all people that we necessarily know. 

We’re keeping up with folks that we not only don’t know in real life but folks that may actually have much larger budgets than us. So whenever I see the fabulous, The Londoner traveling all over the world taking gorgeous IG photos, it can be easy for me to wish that I was living her life. I mean she gets to travel to Greece one week and then to France the next week! 

It’s easy to fall into this comparison trap since we literally have other people’s entire ordinary lives right in the palm of our hands. We don’t have to wait to see them next door – we already know what the Joneses are doing within seconds of them doing it. 

So if you haven’t already stopped the comparisons and found contentment with where you are currently, I encourage you to do so today. And I encourage you to read Rachel’s book, Love Your Life Not Theirs when it comes out in October. It’s super impactful and truthfully, it helped me pick up on a few things that I need to work on changing. 

What advice can you give someone struggling to overcome discontentment and the comparison trap?

The post When the perfect life isn’t good enough… appeared first on Jessi Fearon.