Day 56

Day 56: Real Time
Day 5: 21 Day Complaint Free Journey


I’ve thought a lot about why complaining has become the mode of conversation for so many of us. Somewhere I bet a think tank is even spending millions of dollars examining the issue.

I think it’s pretty simple, though.

At one time we lived in a society that worked more than it didn’t.

Phone calls to our service providers were answered by humans who could interact with us and our questions. And they often even cared about helping us. Our elected officials acted….well, official, instead of officious. Our doctors knew us and our histories. They took the time to listen, and then they prescribed medication or tests that actually helped us instead of making it worse and costing us the mortgage.

In other words, we trusted one another.

When that trust disappeared, the complaining became rampant. And seemingly with good cause.

Remember, complaining is allowed when it’s to someone who can correct an issue and when it remains focused on the problem. It becomes counterproductive when we cross the line into a personal attack….and we all know exactly when in the conversation that happens, don’t we? We can feel the negativity darken our spirits.

The question is whether the type of complaining most of us engage in has helped restore that trust. Or are we reacting to a society whose wheels have fallen off, tossing us into the dirt? And then we just can’t wait to tell our friends, relatives, and strangers in line at the grocery store what happened, can we?

The cycle of distrust creaks on.

It may make us feel better in that moment, but that type of complaining has only gotten us here: A society that is reactive and feeding on the emotion of those reactions. We’re not fixing anything any more than the robots on the other end of the phone line.

Day 5 stretches ahead. A back to work day, full of interactions with coworkers and peers.

I just hope my computer service stays on line and my phone doesn’t break.