Key Takeaway: Getting rid of complaining, criticizing, and gossiping from your life can help you feel happier and healthier emotionally.

What is Complaining? And Why Do We Do it?

Complaining is talking and focusing on things that you don’t want as opposed things that you do want.

Complaints also have negative energy around them instead of neutral or positive tones, which is an important distinction because there are times when certain issues need to be brought to the attention of others so that they can be fixed or improved on.

People complain in order to:

• get attention and sympathy
• brag
• remove responsibility from themselves
• avoid stepping up to do something they are afraid of doing

Having this understanding of why we complain and the negative effects of complaining is important because we need to be aware that focusing on the things we don’t want isn’t going to help us get where we want to go.

Complaint Free Challenge

How often do you complain?

Most people are simply not aware of how much they complain because it’s become such a habit for them. According to AComplaintFreeWorld.org, the average person complains 15 – 30 times per day.

You probably don’t think that you complain that much – and neither did I before I attempted the 21-day Complaint Free Challenge, which was created by Will Bowen, the author of A Complaint Free World. 

To complete this challenge, you have to go 21 straight days without complaining, criticizing, or gossiping. Every time you complain, criticize, or gossip, you need to move your “Complaint Free” bracelet (you can also use a rubber band or any other mechanism that makes you aware of your complaint) from one wrist to another.

Warning: it’s not easy.

But even just becoming aware of the times you do complain is really good progress.

Even getting through one day without complaining is pretty great. But getting through 21 straight days… now THAT could be completely life-changing.

--