“Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better."

Recently I’ve been enjoying learning more about Florence Nightingale, a 19th century nurse who put herself in some of the most difficult conditions to take care of people who were sick and wounded. She’s known to be the founder of modern nursing, which only becomes more impressive when you learn that she for many years was afraid to reject the life that was expected of her and live out her calling.

It’s with that context that I’d like you to consider one of her most famous quotes: “Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better.”

It’s written in older English, and spoken in the negative, so let me state what I understood Nightingale said more directly - Growth and progress are only possible when you are unhappy with the status quo.

This is a complex topic to break down. I’m a huge advocate for being grateful for what you have and reframing life events so that you have a more positive perspective. There’s a lot of personal improvement in that. But what NIghtingale suggests here is a layer beyond that. We do not need to accept things for how they are, we can play a hand in creating things how we want them to be.

This is the difficult tension to find between appreciating what you have and still having ambitions for more. Are you truly grateful if you want more? Or settling for less than you're capable of if you’re content with what you have?

History’s greatest innovators saw the problems in the world as they existed and created solutions to those problems. Those who maximize their life push past the confines of the immediate to experience what lies beyond. There’s an element of chronic dissatisfaction that’s required to drive change, or else there would be no reason to change.

So I guess my point in sharing this is to recognize that there’s a spectrum to it. It’s obvious to reject the injustices we see in the world and want to be part of a better way, but it’s less obvious to make adjustments to the things that are already good enough. Perhaps this is a moment for you to pause and reflect on your life, and observe areas where you may be tolerating something that’s below the standard you want to have for yourself, or where you're allowing ‘good enough’ to fill up the space the deserves greatness.