60 degrees
I think it is only over time that we learn not to settle. But first, we settle. We settle for the things that we think make us happy for a moment, and we settle for the things that we've convinced ourselves might change, but probably won't. We do this because of our overwhelming need for immediacy, to have some form of the thing we want, right now. Ironically, we hear people tell us that we deserve the best, and that the only way to get the best is to 1) be patient/put in the work and you'll get there/it's well worth the wait, and 2) never settle. It's ironic because we tell them we've listened! But then, left to our own devices, we settle anyway. Why? We give our loved ones the same advice, and then turn around in hypocrisy and do the opposite. It is there that we help to breed our own discontent. Happiness in part is learning to do right for yourself. It is being able to sit in solitude by yourself for a bit and feel whole. It is laying in your bed at night in the silence with your window open, listening to the outside, feeling at peace with your own mind. I think we all eventually get there.
