What is contentment?

Hello, and thank you for checking out my post!
I, in no way, shape, or form, am a professional or even slightly qualified at "determining what is right or wrong", "deciding what happiness is", and "how to achieve or improve on it."

However, I still like to voice my thoughts on these matters, as this seems to be a topic that everybody can relate to, so feel free to take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt, or two.

We all decide what the exact definition of "happiness", "contentment", and all the other synonyms for these are, on our own. Of course, it's generally known that happiness is good, but further from that, opinions start to vary very drastically.
Personally, I believe in happiness stemming from spending time around those that you love, at the places you love, doing the things that you love.
That's not quite it, however.

We also require time for ourselves, contemplating about the past, present, and future, without the pressure of other peoples presence.
Something challenging, to keep our minds sharp and working, too.
It can't all be easy, after all, and I wouldn't have it any other way, even if I tell myself and those around me that I would.
It would just get too monotonous, it'd take the special feeling that coming home after a day of work brings away, and leave you just sitting at home, withering away.

Of course, there's also the matter of knowing if that what you do has an impact on yourself and others in other ways.
I really like going for a drive, from time to time, for example. Does that mean I would like to spend days, weeks, or even months, just driving from A to B, to C, and then back to A?
Maybe for a little while.
And yes, I know that the metaphor might be a badly picked one, as I'm sure there's people who have been driving commercially for the past 20 years, and they still like it as much as on the first day.

I'm really glad that they are feeling that way!
It's nice to have something you can cherish all your life.
But back to my metaphor, I suppose I'm just embilleshing the proverb that "Variety is the spice of life", but I still feel like it does, definitely, apply.

If you're having a bad day right now, and you're still reading my silly blog post after all this, please remember that it is okay to feel sad from time to time. Letting it out is healthy, but make sure not to lose yourself in bad emotions.
There's always something to look forward to, be it a good meal, meeting up with someone you like, getting a day off, or simply hearing your favourite song in the radio while on the way to work in the mornings.

Something that I like to do, when I'm trying to cheer myself up, is to imagine what, in that very moment, my perfect day would be like.
It often goes something like
"Wake up with my lovely girlfriend, have a great breakfast, go adopt a dog or two and then spend the day just having fun outside, before arriving back home and settling down, falling asleep on the couch together while watching a slow, sappy, movie," but sometimes it's also just "Lay in bed all day and forget about the world."

This might just be a particular weirdness that I, myself, have, but those thoughts often give me the drive to keep on trucking, and just go ahead in life, dealing with my issues and looking forward to those, special, moments.

Other times, I just seek out company, and attempt to make myself feel better by listening to THEIR sorrows and talking to them about those, as a way of simply getting away from the stress of my own life.
Knowing that I might have helped someone from a bad place can sometimes pick me right up, and consider that all I might need to move on is a little helping hand, or another perspective.

Now, I won't be torturing you any more with my rambling.
I just really like to sometimes voice my mind somewhere, and "Right now" and "Right here" seemed to fit the ticket quite well!

Thanks a lot for reading through all of this, and feel free to reply with any thoughts, criticism, or insights you may have on this!

~Lavein