As far as relationships go, what's the difference between "settling" and "being content"?

Question

If you're reading this and you're married, I'm wondering - are you TRULY content or did you just settle for your significant other?

Also, in your opinion, what's the main difference between the two?

Answer 1

Settling means lowering your standards and accepting someone that is less than what you deserve.  Content is being happy.  Think of a cat sitting in the windowsill with sun streaming in, just happy to be there, nothing else needed to make it happy.

Answer 2

In order for you to settle you must be content with who you are with. They go hand in hand, you cant have one without the other. For example, you have been dating a guy for a while and he decides that he is happy with you and wants no one else. He is now content with what he has and choses to settle down with you meaning he is staying put and has realized what he wants out of a relationship. When people say settling down they usually mean getting married but that would be using settling down in the wrong way. When marriage is concerned it just that marriage. When settling down and maariage are combined its that this person has chosen whom she or he  wants to be with for the rest of their lives and maybe get married or unite with.

Answer 3

Settling is accepting less than you should whereas being content is a good state, IMO. I am content with my mate.

Answer 4

Settling to me is marrying the first person to ask or feeling like you can not do better for yourself. Content is knowing that even though you may not agree on everything (maybe not anything), that you still want to wake up with that person. Sometimes the bad can out weigh the good but, you still love each other. That is contentment for me.

Answer 5

"Settling" has a negative connotation of being forced into a situation that is not ideal, but is better than the (even worse) alternatives. "Being content" means just that - that you are content and satisfied with your situation. The connotation is positive. Me personally - I am truly content.

Answer 6

settling means you married someone not as attractive as you  

Answer 7

Im not married, but my opinion is that being truly content, means you are happy with the person you are with, you did not lower your standards to be happy with them.

Settling to me means that you somehow lowered your standards so that you could be happy with the person you are with..

and honestly i am Truly happy with the person i am with!

Answer 8

Being content is knowing that the other has faults but you are happy with them regardless.  You find more good in the person and love those things about them then you do with the negative.

To settle means you are not truly happy with the person and you find yourself accepting things you would never have accepted to begin with.  Although you truly find the other person a good person they are more a friend to you than anything else.  

Marriage takes work, love, and commitment so being content with the person is far better than settling because that content will grow with time and settling usually turns to resentment.

Answer 9

I definitely didn't settle. I married ridiculously young, dumb and full of blind passion. I wouldn't want it any other way.

I think settling is getting married just because it's the thing people do when they get older,  the "biological clock is ticking" and its time to make babies, or getting married because you got pregnant (or got someone pregnant). Settling is just getting married for the sake of getting married because its the right thing to do or the "right" time to do it. Not necessarily because you want to be with the significant other for the rest of your life.

Answer 10

I am truly content .The difference between the two is to be content is to be happy with what you've got and to settle is to settle for something less than you think you can have for convenience.

Answer 11

No...I am truly content with my wife.  She is a great person and understands me very well.  We have our differences, but the love we have for each other overcomes these differences.  We just have a way of knowing how to work things out.  I am not sure how to answer your second question.  What I can say is that you have to be content and have a trusting relationship.  Settling is something where you do because that is what you want out of life and content is something you both want out of life.  When people want to settle, they go and try to find someone they want to settle with whether they are content with them or not.  When you are content, to me it is a mutual thing between the husband and wife.  Agina this is just my opinion.