A Year of No Complaints

A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to try to quit complaining in the new year. As I thought about it and talked it out a bit more with my dear confidant, @ilonabarnhart, I realized I needed some clarity as to what that means. What is complaining? What is the difference between complaining and just being real about the day I had? Can I vent without complaining? I found that each person I talked to had a different idea on what that would look like to them. Ultimately I get to decide as it’s my life and my goal but it is interesting to find out how people view the same subject.
I turned to google dictionary for their wise counsel. It states that complaining is to “express dissatisfaction or annoyance about a state of affairs or an event.” Wow dissatisfaction or annoyance? Damn that cuts out a bit of the things I say when someone asks how I am doing 😆 Don’t get me wrong, overall I’m actually a pretty positive happy person BUT I have been programmed from birth to complain about my circumstances. From lack of sleep, being sick, or car troubles to the barista screwing up the order in the drive through, there seems to be an endless sea of things to complain about in our society. Not sure why our society complains so much when we have everything at our disposal but that’s a topic I can address at another time 🤔
I decided that it was not going to be as easy as just going cold turkey so a month ago I started the questions and clarification process. Then I began recognizing when I was complaining and calling it out as such. Finally, I started reframing my sentence or story so it had a more positive spin on it. My attempt is to reprogram my brain to default to positive thoughts rather than negative ones. It has not been easy (as my one year old and myself have been sick since Christmas) Easy? Nope. Possible? Absolutely!
It actually has become a bit of a game to me to pick out instances where I could have been complaining and restructure it in a way that has purpose. I am super excited to see where this little jouney is going to lead me...