You know what sucks? Admitting your faults to yourself. Yep. I’m not perfect. *gasp* As a matter of fact, there are so many things that I need to work on, it would take several blogs to list them all. In the interest of my self esteem, we’re just going to focus on one- complaining.
I am the all-time champ at complaining. Traffic on the way home? Complain. Lady in front of me in line takes too long? Complain. Waitress doesn’t hoof it to our table fast enough? Complain. I can suck the joy out of almost any event, just give me a minute and I’ll find something to complain about.
The worst thing about this is that it becomes a habit. A horrible, miles-deep rut that you get stuck in. Unless you start to consciously combat the negativity, you’re going to be stuck forever. Well friends, I was STUCK. Stuck like Chuck. For yeeeaarrss. Ask anyone who knows me, and they can attest. So what to do?
What’s that old saying? The first step is admitting you have a problem. OK, I have a problem. Great, now what? Well, writing has always been a catalyst for me, so let’s start there. Enter this little gem-
I started writing in this every time that nasty urge to complain would rear its ugly head. It was hard at first to know what to write. Sometimes, I could only think to say “Thank you for my family” or “I’m grateful that I have a job to go to”. Gradually, I began to feel that angry, negative complaining urge was going away. I wouldn’t blow up as quickly when something didn’t go my way. I wouldn’t freak out in traffic and wish I had a brush guard on my Mazda.
Now, let’s not get it twisted, I still have my moments. And they can be doozies (just ask my hubby or my girls), but they are fewer and farther between. I still want to take people’s heads off sometimes, but I can say that the monkey on my back doesn’t have the hold he once had.
Eventually, I’ll shake that monkey off completely.
