The Challenge-No Complaining

My life sometimes feels surrounded in complaints and negativity. We all have complaints about something. This morning for me it was what I refer to as the Sunday driver going 10-15 miles below the speed limit while I'm trying to get to work on time. My kids complain about school, homework, bedtimes, all the things other kids get to do that they can't. We all have those days when nothing goes right and that one person who bugs you is more frustrating than ever.

While complaining sometimes seems my #1 favorite thing to do, one  of my favorite pastimes is reading. I can get lost, and I mean not knowing what is going on around me lost, in a good book. My reading list is varied, romance, mystery, crime, paranormal, religious, pretty much anything. Right now I started rereading some books I have from one of my favorite authors, Jon Gordon. Currently, I am buried in the book "The No Complaining Rule." I read this book in a reading group about three years ago, and for some reason I am connecting with the main character more this time around than I ever did before. This book gives you positive ways to deal with negativity.

We all deal with negative situations and people daily. There's always something or someone that you'd really rather not deal with, due to the negative feelings and stress the very thought of it or them brings on. What surprises me the most is the effects these negative feelings have on your productivity and health. Such as negative emotions have been proven to decrease life span and longevity, increase risk of heart attack, increased risk of stroke, greater stress, less energy, more pain, fewer friends, and less success.

In the book the lead character is given the challenge of a no complaining day. One day with no complaining. The exercise is supposed to help make you more aware of both your complaining and make you think before you complain. So I am going to challenge myself to a day of no complaining, but to take it a step further I will take note of what I want to complain about to see what I can do to change it to a positive.

"Every complaint represents an opportunity to turn something negative into a positive" - Jon Gordon The No Complaining Rule

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