Day 8 of 30 - No Complaining

I can’t say that I was perfect. Man-o-man did I slip up more than once. I caught myself on the phone complaining to a co-worker about my salary. With so many people losing their jobs, I decided to stop myself in mid-sentence and I changed the topic. It may not be the perfect job, but at least I work with good people.

No complaining has been harder than I expected because it’s a part of how I communicate with my co-workers. I don’t think all complaining is bad - far from it. The reason I started this 30 day trial was to become more aware of my thoughts and actions and see if I might want to implement “no complaining” into the rest of my life.

I’m wavering on this at the moment. I can see how no complaining has improved my mood, but I can also see a loss of connection with other people. Just the other day a fellow co-worker was complaining about the spending habits of the company. I totally agreed and was ready to give my own example, but I couldn’t. All I could do was empathize with her.

The conversation died and we were left in silence until I brought up college football. That’s what was cool about no complaining; it took our conversation in a more positive direction.

I’m not going to rush to make a decision on whether to stay with no complaining forever. I’m going to wait until the 30 days is up then make my choice.

The Signals We Send Out

In the past, when I complained about having to do a report I was reinforcing the negative. My thoughts were focused on why the situation wasn’t living up to my expectations. I was signaling to myself and others that I wanted to be lazy. Side Note: Laziness isn’t all bad in moderate doses.

Complaining signals to people how we want to be treated. The problem with complaining is that it shows people what we don’t want instead of encouraging them to give us what we need.

I tried a little twist in the way I signal my co-workers during a conversation. Instead of complaining about a crappy task, I graciously accepted it then asked for something in return. Of course I don’t always do this, only when the moment feels right.

This is how I was able to maneuver some of my duties to be outside of the office, like speaking to high school students about financial literacy. I didn’t realize that I had been doing this over the past few years. Now that I’m becoming more conscious of my complaining, it has been easier to communicate my needs.

When I graciously accepted the project and signaled that I also wanted to try something new I was showing my boss that I was a team player, but also wanted something fun to work on. He got the hint and now I’m helping create the structure of my day instead of just doing as I’m told.

Internal Complaining

For the past couple of days as I was getting ready for work I was internally complaining about getting out from underneath the warm covers, standing on the cold tile floor in the bathroom, and how I needed more time to do Yoga before work.

I watched this happen since the beginning of this 30 day trial. The funny thing is I knew it was there, but I’ve gotten so used to my complaining that it took a few days for me to really be honest with myself and admit that I was complaining.

Once I noticed this internal whining I stopped feeding into it and took action. Two mornings ago I ripped off the covers and tried to enjoy the feeling. Way too shocking. Nothing but negatives were popping out of my thoughts. I tried a different technique this past morning.

I slowly inched the covers off and let the cool air envelope my skin. This technique worked. My senses weren’t overloaded and I had time to adjust and figure out the little nuances of the experience.

To solve the cold tile problem, I just put on my slippers. An easy solution that I had previously ignored because I just loved complaining instead of doing something about it.

I still couldn’t find enough time for my Yoga, well… not as much as I wanted. It was my fault. I had decided to send out a couple of emails, accept comments, and comment on a few blogs. I accepted that these choices were made instead of doing Yoga. By accepting my decisions I stopped creating conflict. Just because I wasn’t able to do Yoga doesn’t mean I wasn’t making good use of my time.

I’m the youngest in the family and those of you who are the youngest probably understand what I’m talking about. We’re used to getting what we want.

By-product of the No Complaining Challenge

My mood has significantly improved. I don’t think I would be able to see much of a difference if I just took notes at the end of each day. I would be missing the moment to moment improvements. By staying aware of these moments I’ve readjusted my thinking, which has helped me see what the “no complaining” challenge was really doing for me.

I’ve been able to sustain a more “even” emotional level. For example, I would usually get frustrated if I couldn’t get an email finished the way I expected. I would leave my chair, go to the bathroom and come back with a fresh take on my writing. This hasn’t happened as much. I’ve stopped my internal complaining about not meeting my expectations and accepted that the email is what it is. Since it wasn’t perfect I just slowed down and started rereading at the beginning, making sure I knew exactly what I wanted to say.

I’m not sure if this is a byproduct of all the development I’ve cultivated over these past couple of years, but whatever the case, this “no complaining” trial has raised my emotional development to a new level.

To break it all down, the only difference between me before and after my week of “no complaining” is my awareness. I’m still internally complaining, but I’m not feeding into these thoughts. The thought comes in and I begin to play with it. I bat it around, laugh at it then see if I can turn it into something that I can enjoy.

Complaining is not an evil habit, it’s just a way for your mind to grab attention. If you give attention to the complaint and then give your mind something more positive to work with, you can use complaining as a tool to increase awareness of your thoughts and feelings. It has helped my emotional intelligence grow stronger and I know it will help you be able to create the experience you want instead of letting the situation dictate your feelings.

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