A good conversation always involves a certain amount of complaining. I like to bond over mutual hatreds and petty grievances.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor
I personally believe we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain.”
― Jane Wagner, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe
I’m not normally one to look to Facebook for opportunities to be a better person. Nah, that’s where I go to get my Grumpy Cat fix. Sure, there are the ubiquitous graphics telling the viewer what a wonderful gift life is, what a beautiful things quiet contemplation is, how undeniably fabulous their cause is…yadayadayada….
Imagine my surprise when I ran across a graphic that said “Try not complaining for 24 hours…and watch your life change.” I wasn’t altogether convinced about the “watch your life change” part, but 24 hours without complaining? Piece of cake…right?? Then I began to think about how much complaining I actually engage in during a typical day. I don’t know if it amounts to more or less than whatever the “average” may be, but when I was being honest with myself, I had to own up to the truth that I complain. More than I’d like to. Which probably makes me like most other bipeds.
So I set myself a goal of going 24 hours without a complaint. In doing so, I immediately discovered a couple problems:
It helps to have a solid definition of what constitutes “complaining.” I think it’s something we all define differently. One person’s complaint may be another salient observation.
It takes a surprising degree of self-awareness to keep up with this sort of challenge. If you spend a good part of your day on autopilot like I do, paying attention can be a challenge…especially since I’m one of the more oblivious people you’ll meet.
In the end, I can’t honestly say if I made it through a full 24 hours without complaining. What the challenge did for me was to give me a greater degree of awareness about what I say and how I say it. Ultimately, I suspect that’s the real value in this exercise. Like most of us, I’m constantly surprised at how people react to things I do or say that I’m not even fully conscious of. For 24 hours, I made a concerted effort to be more conscious of my thoughts and words. I hope I was at least reasonably successful…and I hope that I’ll be better for it over the long haul. A greater degree of self-awareness can only be a good thing, right?
