Learning Challenge: Stop Complaining!
When I saw the title of the article, "What It’s Like To Go Without Complaining For A Month", I knew I had to read it. I don't think I'm the world's biggest whiner or anything, but I definitely do complain more than I should. The article naturally led me to question myself, and if I really could improve my life if I just stopped complaining!
What is at least one thing that the article CONFIRMED for you that you knew already?
From my own personal experience, I knew that complaining acts as a social bonding tool. Whenever I'm with a group of friends, somehow our conversation always turns to complaining about how stressed we are and all the work we have to do. It's sort of like group therapy, but probably much less productive. Similarly, many of my conversations with people I don't know well often start with a complaint, usually something along the lines of "the weather is terrible today."
What is at least one NEW thing that you learned that you did not know before?
I didn't know that on average, people complain in conversation at least once a minute! That's crazy! I also had no idea that complaining yourself or listening to someone else complain releases stress hormones in your brain. I'm stressed enough already, so I don't need to be doing anything to increase those hormone levels. I'm actually really surprised by this information, since I always thought that complaining did the opposite, and helped you to unwind from a stressful or irritating situation.
What is the one thing you are now CURIOUS to explore and what are you going to do in order to act on that curiosity?
I found the article's suggestions on how to stop complaining really helpful. I think I'm going to try implementing these strategies to work towards complaining less and just having a more positive overall outlook. One strategy that I've used in the past has been to change the phrase "have to" to "get to", and this has been somewhat successful for me, mostly when I'm about to do something new and feel nervous. For example, thinking "I get to interview for this internship" has helped me to have a more positive outlook than thinking "I have to interview for this internship."
One new strategy that I want to try to track how often I complain for a day. I'm really curious to see what the tally will be, and when I complain the most. I have a feeling the number of complaints will spike at the end of the day when I see my boyfriend, since we usually talk about the bad and good parts of our days, and life has been a little tough lately so complaints have been frequent! Maybe tracking them will help me to see that some of the things I'm complaining about really aren't worth the time or negative energy.
What is at least one thing that the article CONFIRMED for you that you knew already?
From my own personal experience, I knew that complaining acts as a social bonding tool. Whenever I'm with a group of friends, somehow our conversation always turns to complaining about how stressed we are and all the work we have to do. It's sort of like group therapy, but probably much less productive. Similarly, many of my conversations with people I don't know well often start with a complaint, usually something along the lines of "the weather is terrible today."
What is at least one NEW thing that you learned that you did not know before?
I didn't know that on average, people complain in conversation at least once a minute! That's crazy! I also had no idea that complaining yourself or listening to someone else complain releases stress hormones in your brain. I'm stressed enough already, so I don't need to be doing anything to increase those hormone levels. I'm actually really surprised by this information, since I always thought that complaining did the opposite, and helped you to unwind from a stressful or irritating situation.
What is the one thing you are now CURIOUS to explore and what are you going to do in order to act on that curiosity?
I found the article's suggestions on how to stop complaining really helpful. I think I'm going to try implementing these strategies to work towards complaining less and just having a more positive overall outlook. One strategy that I've used in the past has been to change the phrase "have to" to "get to", and this has been somewhat successful for me, mostly when I'm about to do something new and feel nervous. For example, thinking "I get to interview for this internship" has helped me to have a more positive outlook than thinking "I have to interview for this internship."
One new strategy that I want to try to track how often I complain for a day. I'm really curious to see what the tally will be, and when I complain the most. I have a feeling the number of complaints will spike at the end of the day when I see my boyfriend, since we usually talk about the bad and good parts of our days, and life has been a little tough lately so complaints have been frequent! Maybe tracking them will help me to see that some of the things I'm complaining about really aren't worth the time or negative energy.
I think it's time to start collecting positive thoughts instead of complaints!
(Image source: MartaZ on Flickr)
Hi Alyx,
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate to complaining a lot. I have also experienced that when you start complaining to other people that can help them open up a lot. I did not realize that complaining also ups the stress hormones, so I am hoping to stop complaining because just like you, I am already stressed enough as it is in my day to day life!