Discontentment is the Thief of Joy

Discontentment is not just a feeling, but a thief.

It rips joy and goodness out of your hands and then gains control of your emotions. But you don’ have to let that be the case.

How to Move Past Discontentment

• Find joy in the small things. And that’s a big deal in combating discontentment. When we recognize even the littlest thing we have, we can start to feel joy and grateful to what we actually have. Like how you see your son/daughter happy in the morning. The moments of silly laughter with your spouse. The fact that your household has an income. Those things are some of the small joys that we should already be grateful of. And after feeling that moment of bliss, take that in the next hours and the next. It’s all about finding that small joy within the day and letting it ripple within you

“Find joy in the small things” – Chelsey DeMatteis

• Train your mind to focus on the things you already have. For example, you will suddenly feel bitter for not having that extra shining, amazingly-designed stroller you saw. But then, why not be grateful for having that fully-functioning stroller that works just as fine? It’s all about finding those littlest things that can make your heart feeling discontent all the time. Sometimes we will desire for the shiny things, but the Lord will tell us to come back to what we have.
• In this day and age of social media, we have to remember that we only see the “best” of what most of these people are. When you check your closest friends, you know that what they post online is partial, if not only a bit part of what’s going on in their lives. Our lives are not perfect. When you see people online post their starbucks, their gorgeous outfit of the day, their grand vacation, remember that those are just a glimpse. We don’t know what else is going on in somebody else’s life.

When Will I Start to Feel the Shift?

The shift is not necessarily a start-to-deadline thing, but rather a continuous process. Or something you’ll wake up tomorrow feeling completely different. 

But with intention you can begin to change your discontented heart.

The world offers you lots of things that will make you think it will give you happiness.

We are always going to walk through seasons that would make us realize, “why do I want those things?” and then it creates the deeper questions and deeper conversations on what do we need to fix upon ourselves.

Remember…

When you feel that everything is coming up against you, you have to cling to the small things that make you happy. Try to find the good in a bad situation and hold on to that because it will get you through. The little slices of joys will get you through the times of discontentment!

Meet Chelsey

I’m Chelsey DeMatteis, a devoted wife, SAHM to our sweet boy, host of the Living With Less podcast and sold out woman for Jesus. My deepest desire is for women to know The lord loves them where they are but loves them too much to leave things in the dark. You can find me at ChelseyDeMatteis.com, on Instagram @livingwithlesspodcast, and tune into the podcast every Wednesday on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!