22/09/2024
What Can Happen When You Stop Complaining…in 100 Days?
We are on the countdown until the end of 2024…there are 100 days left until we are celebrating another New Year’s Eve. How about setting yourself up to take on a challenge for the last days of the year. The “100 Days Of No Complaining Challenge,” so you can finish the year looking at things differently.
Taking up the challenge might have you feeling more grateful, for what you already have, or just by bringing an awareness to what you are constantly complaining about, might lead you to take action to resolve that issue. It's not easy but each time you find yourself complaining STOP and look at a positive way of looking at the issue. Maybe just hours into starting the challenge, a situation arises where, you find yourself on the phone with your insurance provider, having a dispute with them for not paying out for your claim.
After being on hold for 45 minutes with your insurer, then getting disconnected a few times, and then transferred to a person who said the forms that you sent in three times hadn’t been received. Yes, after that it is easy to lose your cool a few times—especially after maybe your car had also broke down during that week. Things that we don’t want, will always happen, but by changing the way we look at them diffuses the angst and the whole not complaining thing does eventually get easier.
A few days in, you will start to realise that you have become more aware of things you criticise and complain about. After complaining, take a moment to stop and reconsider if the incident was really worth grumbling about. When we focus on what is bothering us or not working in our lives, we automatically enter a space of negativity and pessimism therefore attracting more of the same. When we choose to focus on looking for the positivity in our lives, our entire outlook and the way in which we approach life changes.
The time and effort you waste on complaining could be invested in fixing problems, finding solutions, and achieving results. Complaining creates a culture of negativity which kills innovation & creativity. Negative people are quick to shoot down new ideas. It is not enjoyable to spend time around people who constantly complain and emphasis the negatives. It is not only unattractive in a person, but constantly complaining can be annoying as well and damage friendships. It is living in a victim-mode.
Complaining triggers your body to release cortisol, the stress hormone. Cortisol shifts you into fight-or-flight mode, directing oxygen, blood, and energy away from everything but the systems that are essential to immediate survival so it keeps you stressed and anxious. It increases mental and physical tension, and decreases energy and creativity.
Complaining rarely inspires us to action and often reinforces feelings of helplessness. Behind every complaint is unresolved frustration or a conflict that is being avoided. Complaining pushes away successful people. They do not want to live and dwell in negativity. And since they take responsibility for their own actions – they don't want to sit around and hear about how you don't. So, who do you attract when you live a life of complaining? People just like yourself who waste their day on phone scrolling, negative text messages back and forth, phone conversations focused on complaints and negativity.
The following can help you develop a more positive outlook and reduce the urge to complain.
1. Practice gratitude for what you already have.
2. Focus on solutions instead of just problems.
3. Use positive affirmations to affirm what's going right.
4. Limit exposure to negativity as much as you can.
5. Try phrasing things differently.
6. Keep practicing GRATITUDE.
7. Write down your thoughts in a journal.
8. Reaching out to supportive loved ones and friends.
9. Take the necessary steps and actions to solve the problem.
10. Replace negative thoughts with positive ones.
You have the power to improve the way you feel everyday through the words you use and the thoughts you think. If you are constantly complaining that will keep you stuck in your own pessimistic, pathetic, half-empty glass of negativity. In order to break this habit, not only do you need to stop complaining, but you also need to proactively replace those thoughts with something positive.
“Thoughts are not just important; they are the foundation of how we live our life from day to day. Our thoughts are responsible for every choice we make, everything we create or destroy, and they’re responsible for the amount of happiness we experience.”
If you’ve never been one to “look on the bright side” of things then train yourself to become aware of how you are feeling and when you are going to say or think something negative, stop yourself and find constructive positive action taking thoughts instead. It's normal to notice that some of your daily communication involves dwelling on grievances or complaints.
But if you notice a pattern that many of your words and thoughts are focused on negativity, it may be a sign that you need to find a way to address your complaining. Try doing it in a way that helps you find solutions that move your goals forward (instead of just complaining for the sake of complaining). A much healthier thing to do is have a big brainstorming session – take a big sheet of paper and write down every thought and idea that you have.
FOCUS ON WHAT YOU WANT TO ATTRACT.
STOP BEATING YOURSELF UP.
CHANGE YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS.
TAKE NOTICE OF HOW YOU FEEL.
WHAT EMOTIONS ARE YOU EXPERIENCING.
When you actively become aware of how much you complain and you start the day determined to not complain and you achieve this, it absolutely changes your life—you feel happier and less anxious and the best part is that it becomes a habit to then catch yourself in a negative thought pattern. Whenever you move your mind to a positive, different thought it has a calming effect on you. It’s not saying that suddenly you are the most optimistic person in the world but a positive mindset for most of the time and shifting your focus to the good, not the bad does lessen your stress levels and helps to make those troublesome life events easier to deal with.
It doesn’t get you home any faster when you are stuck in the traffic becoming grumpy and sitting in the car complaining that you have had enough of the huge volumes of traffic on the road…usually what happens when you finally get home is that you continue to complain about everything and your day moves from bad to absolute disaster.
Start today…‘100 Day No Complaining Challenge’ and change your life going into next year a more positive, exciting and interesting person that everyone wants to spend time with!
