Complaining

One of the fun times I have ever enjoyed as a staffer was sitting around complaining about how lousy the management was at making decisions. I use to think of it as comrades getting together to laugh and joke about leadership. Then one day I woke up with a realisation that as complainers we were making ourselves miserable by reliving a horrible situation that in most cases would never get repaired because bad leaders, to my surprise, only care about one thing, themselves.

Over the past year, it feels effortless to fall back into the ongoing rotation of complaining. Often it goes on for so long that you fall into a routine, and it becomes a part of your life. Over time I have found myself sitting around over drinking and complaining with colleagues, or when alone, looking in a mirror while brushing my teeth. I can hear that voice complaining in my head about one thing or another. Complaints have a way of slipping in when we aren’t even thinking about anything. Here are a few examples of how it slides into our mindset:

• When thinking of going for a walk, you step outside and it’s cold and starting to rain.
• You plan a trip to your local grocery store to pick up something you have been craving for a while, but when you get there, it’s out of stock.
• You are waiting on a special call from a friend, the phone rings and you run to pick it up and immediately realise that it’s a telemarketer trying to convince you that you need auto insurance even though you don’t have a car.
• When you step on a scale to check your weight when you congratulate yourself on eating healthy foods and exercising to be shocked when the scale yells, “Hello Fatty,” at you before you can jump off of it. Bloody hell is what usually escapes my lips.
• During COVID, check-ins and wearing a mask is mandatory, but often I complain that it’s too hot, or makes my nose drip, or I can’t identify people when they are wearing dark glasses and a hat pulled down low. Often, they say hello and scare my lunch out of me. It’s a necessary evil.
• COVID Lockdowns remind me of a surprise birthday party or celebration where everyone yells, “Lockdown starts tonight at 8p, get all your errands done now.” The hard part is when you only have a three-hour window. It takes that long to get my makeup on so I won’t…