Content
by Miles Patrick Yohnke
(Canada)
Warning: This story may raise your blood pressure.
I can't accept the word "content". To be content is like death. If I had accepted content (complacency), you wouldn't be reading this story. For I had a learning disorder, and could barely read and write. At the age of five, I faced a tragic event. My father was killed in a potash mine accident. By the age of thirteen, I had been kicked, beaten, and robbed of my self-esteem. I was bullied mercilessly thru elementary school.
If I were content, if I had listened to people all round me, I would not have had this life I have now. I'd be like most. Working some job (where I could simply be replaced by another), having some possessions, and then die. Perhaps a wife and some kids. But what would I really instill into them? The same lifestyle? The lifestyle of content. It is a dead lifestyle.
Reading many of the articles written on Mother Theresa, I concluded that she was happy at times, and at other times she wasn't happy. Perhaps she never thought she was making a difference. She fought depression. But the particular type of depression she fought, I believe, is a great depression. One where you are fighting so much for the truth. Fighting for the rights of all mankind.
Content is an excuse to living. Content is an excuse to growing. Content is all around us.
And speaking of content, Toby Mildon sure wasn't content when he was born. You should read his story. About his life and being born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). How he became more. SMA is a neuromuscular condition that affects his overall body strength and prevents him from walking. He needs around the clock care. However, despite spending his whole life in a wheelchair, it hasn't stopped him from leading an active and fulfilling life.
Today, Toby works for the BBC in London. He also has his own practice that helps media professionals achieve their wildest dreams, live a life less ordinary, and focus on "bettering their best" by way of continuous improvement. He has published a book called Mediapreneurs: How to have a business and a life. Google search his name to find out more about this remarkable man and his life.
He could have been content. Content with what God gave him. Accepted that his life is what "he" wanted him to lead. Toby, though, really understood God's message. It simply is a challenge. Toby has taken and met that challenge head on.
This is living. One thing I learned from my Dad's passing (he was 39) is that tomorrow isn't promised to anyone.
We are all going to die. But are we truly going to live? Do we simply want to grow old and never really have done anything with our life? Our gift of life? Just exist and be content?
As a writer, I receive a truckload of letters from once strong, independent career women who were forging out their own paths. Sadly, at some point, they got worn down. Most ended up marrying well-off men. Had children. Became content.
I guess that's why we see such an influx of mindless reality t.v. shows that become so popular. For example, the "Housewives of Beverly Hills, Miami, and New York."
We don't have another life hidden in a safety deposit box. This one life is it. One has to develop and enrich their own soul, and in return, deposit that into the souls of others. This is the real treasure trove of life.
Not to sleep walk through life, like in an outpatient program. It is to live a life without limits. And if one pushes and challenges, perhaps, then and only then, can one be content.
About the Author
Globally recognized and award-nominated engineer, producer, writer, poet and founder and C.E.O. of 5 Star Productions, Miles Patrick Yohnke brings many years of experience to the music industry; including many awards in sales and marketing. If you are looking at developing your career, Yohnke offers consulting in person, by phone or via email. For more info, please contact him directly at: 306.227.6379 or email at miles(at)5-starproductions.com.
Read additional offerings from Miles:
Performing without a Net
Occupy Yourself
Think, Rethink, Challenge Yourself
Olympic Sized Pity Pool
Happiness
For Those About to Bike (We Salute You)
D.U.N.C.A.N.2.0.
