You sat in your house last week sweating. Or you were in a car at a stoplight melting and fuming. Or you were out for an early-morning run and realized it was as hot as Hades.
And you complained.
Really, you couldn't help yourself. It's what we do as humans – we complain. We are never just right, are we? We are the complainers of the animal world. Fish get eaten by bigger fish, but they don't complain. Porcupines can't ever cuddle, but they keep their mouths shut. Your dog has no idea what you are going on and on about, but he just sits there and looks lovingly at you.
But us? We complain.
When it was cold during the winter, we complained about how cold it was. How can people live in this kind of weather, we asked? It's crazy. We are moving to Florida/California/Arizona/Nevada, we exclaimed. Of course, we know we aren't moving at all.
It snows, we complain. It gets icy, we complain.
I remember that nice warm snap we had in February. It was unbelievable. I actually got out and rode my motorcycle quite a bit that week.
It was glorious.
But still, some people complained. There was no snow. We couldn't ride our snowmobiles. We couldn't ski. We couldn't use our snowshoes.
In the spring – the wet, cold spring that seems to last an eternity (see, I'm complaining) we complained that it would never end. The days on end of rain had us longing for the long, hot days with no rain.
Well, they arrived. In fact, we had a long stretch of days with highs in the 90s. A stretch that hadn't been seen this early in June since John F. Kennedy was president, if one Rockford weather person is to be believed.
We should have rejoiced. We should have cheered. We should have fallen to our knees and wept with joy.
But no.
We complained.
Think about how many times a day you complain. Be honest, folks. When you got up, you probably complained that it was too early (after a night of complaining because you couldn't sleep). If you had to work, you certainly complained about that.
Lunch? It wasn't that great and probably earned some complaints. That guy next to you at the traffic light with the music too loud? Yep. Worth a complaint.
You could fill a book with just traffic complaints.
Seriously, have you ever considered how much we complain? I tracked my complaints recently, and tried not to dial it back for the sake of the experiment. I complained 21 times that day. It ranged from the simple – “This shirt makes me look fat. It couldn't possibly be my gut … hey look, a donut!” To the intense – “If you cut me off again I will hunt you down and kill the flowers in your yard!”
I have tried since to cut down on my complaints, or at least keep them more to myself. Try it. You will be surprised at how much better you feel by keeping your complaining in check. I'm not saying stop altogether. That would be impossible.
Just remember that there is always something to complain about, but that doesn't mean we should.
