Sorry to break it to you, but when you complain too much about something, you are essentially complaining about yourself. We all encounter reasons to complain: bad weather, tough business decisions, bad boss, challenging relationships, demanding clients, health issues… We've all been there because life is a series of events often beyond our control. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t have agency in how we respond to these events. There's a gap between stimulus and our response — and within that space lies the power we can wield. The power to choose between: ❌ complaining (not very productive) or ✅ taking action towards solutions (productive). In a way, excessive complaining reflects a lack of self-awareness and an inability to take responsibility for your own circumstances, and is often just a way to externalize blame. This isn't to suggest we should suppress anger and frustration; they're normal human emotions. What we should suppress is our immediate and passive response to them, which results in endless complaining. Instead, we should invest our time and energy into more productive pursuits that drive positive change. 💪 P.S. Thanks Noah Kagan and Laura Roeder for the inspiration and a great episode! P.P.S. The statement in the image is actually (and sadly) true. It’s a finding from Will Bowen, best-selling author of “A Complaint Free World.”
I don't know what the average is, but I always take complaining as helplessness in the face of something that is beyond our capabilities or courage to react. Personally, I only complain about the weather when we have to make hay for the horses and other livestock. The rest, according to my grandfather's wisdom: "Either it can be solved or it can't be solved...so why complain." Simple :)
That's some Viktor Frankl wisdom applied right there, nice🙌
Content Creator at EFFEKT Agency
7moI've been following your posts for a while and somehow the topics seem to always cover exactly what I'm dealing with or thinking about at the moment. Getting out of the bush to leave a comment 😅 I think Simon Sinek touched this same topic in relation to work environment frustrations and mentioned how it is important to complain and get your frustrations out of your system. At the same time, it's incredibly important to be aware of where the boundary is before complaining becomes a gossip or a hurtful rant. We don't always have an exit option from dealing with situations that frustrate us a lot, but we can always find a way to get it out of our system such as exercise, talking to a friend or simply detaching by doing a hobby. Being self-aware and pinpointing what and why something bothers us is important. Often we complain about some things but in reality, the root of the problem lies much deeper. I think that once you're aware of this, you've already sorted a huge part of the problem. In the end, we are often not even aware about how much we complain and sometimes, we've been doing this to such an extent it became a habit. It can be difficult to get out of this mode but necessary for our mental health! 🤗