Have you ever noticed how many people complain throughout the day? Have you ever kept up with how many times you complain in a day?
Whether we are the one complaining or the one hearing the complaints, it wears on all of us.
Even the most joyous and adaptable among us can be guilty of a form of complaining.
It might show up as pointing out how a system isn’t the most efficient (eh hem, I’m guilty), a presentation wasn’t polished (eh hem, guilty again) or the lines are too long (eh hem, guilty).
We all should be constantly working to polish all parts of our lives, which means those areas will need to be evaluated.
And we all need to help others improve in various areas as well.
But do we actually need to consistently share out loud every single thing that frustrates us, irritates us, causes us a bit of inconvenience or surprises us in a day?
If it does help to say it out loud in the moment, then is it possible to say it and move on, rather than letting it ruin our day?
Nagging is another form of complaining. It truly may be an attempt to be the squeaky wheel and get the goal accomplished, but nagging also weighs on people — the one being nagged as well as others hearing it.
And while it’s true that venting and sharing frustrations helps us process and work through them, that’s not what I mean here.
We all need those lunch dates with friends where we can talk through various things.
But all the minor inconveniences that happen in a day — is it possible to become a little more resilient in those cases?
We never know who among us will have heavy life issues pressing down on them at any given point, and in some cases their patience levels may become thin during those times.
What if we show grace to those truly facing serious issues and shouldering major life inconveniences and concerns by giving them the complaint card for the day rather using up the card on little things that really don’t matter in the big scheme of life?
And what if we learn to chuckle at the minor mishaps we encounter, remembering that we too inconvenience others from time to time.
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