Is discontentment such a bad thing? I guess it depends on the way in which you deal with it. Discontentment might be considered an advantage if you allow it to push you forward and it could be seen as a disadvantage if you become despondent and wallow in self pity. Sometimes we can spend far too much time looking at what we do not have or what our life is not and we miss what we do have. I am unsure if this rings true to you but there have been definite moments in my life where I have realised I now have what I wanted, say five or ten years ago. I realised I took this for granted and instead chose to focus on what I wanted in the present day.
The goal posts always move. There is always more to want, get and have. As we grow older our wants and needs change as well as our priorities. What was important to you a few years ago may not factor so high up on the scale today.
Discontentment as I stated earlier can propel us forward into stepping out and taking action rather than coasting through life. There comes a point when you realise you have to want it more than others want it for you. Some circumstances may mean you do not have the power to change life as it is today. You can only plan what you will do when an opportunity arises. This can be extremely frustrating and upsetting as nobody wants to remain in a situation where they are unhappy, unproductive or hindered. Other circumstances will mean you can make a change but may be fearful and uncertain about the outcome.
Discontentment can make you bitter, resentful, envious, depressed, particularly if you can see no way out. Discontentment can affect marriages, friendships, working relationships if you allow it to eat you up. Discontentment is real and it can destroy.
Choose to re-examine your discontentment. Where does it truly derive from? Does it come to the surface when you are around a particular individual or is it always there lingering in the background? Identify areas of your life that you CAN change and choose to make a simple change today.
organisedlady 
I’ve certainly known moments of discontent, but feel fairly sure I used them to change my circumstances. I always figured that it was God urging me to do something different. Now, if only I had listened to what he wanted to do instead of following my own idea!
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I believe discontentment arises when we need to take action to change our circumstances. The key is knowing what action to take.
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Phoenicia — I was particularly struck by your sentence, “What was important to you a few years ago may not factor so high up on the scale today.” That is so true. As I’ve gotten older, I can actually laugh at the things that seemed so important to me in the past. Do we really want what we can’t get? Will it matter that much in our lives? Mostly, the answer is “No!”
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We live for what we see today. It is difficult to imagine a life any different from the one we have which is why hope is so important. Without it there is no incentive to go on.
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One way to deal with discontentment is to change our mindset. I agree with you on the fact that the goal post changes. I used to rely on some material items thinking they would provide me some sort of contentment but my needs changed. I eventually became discontented.
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Yes we do. What we think will make us content and what makes us content are two different things.
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