Beware the ides of March. In like a lion, out like lamb. March Madness. So many mists in March you see, so many frosts in May will be….
The month of March is a tough one. Christmas is long gone and new years’ resolutions have surely been abandoned (if you’re still going strong – congratulations!). The calendar says spring, but your cold feet tell you it’s still winter. It seems like years ago someone decided to throw in St. Patrick’s Day so there’d be a day everyone could drink and be merry and pinch strangers who don’t wear green. I’m not sure how the pinching tradition came about, but I would surmise it was mostly likely connected to the drinking.
For me personally, March isn’t the worst month, mainly because my youngest daughter has a birthday in March. She’s excited to turn 8 this year, and I can’t blame her. I remember when I turned 7 and my parents bought me a new bicycle, and I remember when I turned 9 and one of my friends said, “Almost double digits!” Being a kid and celebrating birthdays is fun. When you’re 7 all you want to be is 8, and when you’re 8 you want to be 9, and this continues on up until our 30’s until it switches. When you’re 42, you want to 28. And so we go.
This makes me wonder why, as humans, we have difficulty being content in our circumstances? It seems that age doesn’t matter, we’re always wanting something more or different. Just a little more money to take that vacation or pay off that debt, or just another 10 (or 20!) pounds and then I’ll be able to… Or, if I could only get that job, then I’d…It seems like what we have is never enough. More than anything, it seems that contentment is most elusive.
Sometimes we can be our own worst enemies. We can allow the cold winter, aches and pains, lack of financial resources, broken down vehicles, failed grades in school, medical issues that won’t heal get us down. But there is good news if we choose to see it. If you’re reading this then it’s likely you have a warm place to stay at night. Does that bring contentment? Hopefully you had enough food to eat in the past 24 hours and are contented. What about a hot cup of coffee, does that bring some small measure of contentment? And perhaps you’ve met with a friend or neighbor in your community recently and can be content knowing you have friends. However small these things might be, I would hope you can find contentment in your everyday life. And if you’re not content, if you haven’t seen a smile or spoken with someone recently, give me a call, tell me you read my article, and I’ll take a few minutes to chat. I can’t guarantee contentment, but I can listen.
“He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.” - Socrates