Habitually Complaining Can Be Harmful To Your Health
“While you are complaining about the little problems in your life, somebody is actually fighting for theirs.” Source: http://www.livelifehappy.com
Have you ever been around people who are constantly complaining, even when things are splendid? Despite the awesome things that are occurring in their life, they continually seem to focus on what is going wrong. All this complaining can impact the brain to rewire itself and stay negative. Therefore, if you are constantly focused on worrying and judging, when similar situations arise, your brain will connect those experiences to those negative emotions. Surely if we have the choice as to how we want to react to events in our lives, choosing positive emotions would serve us better.
It Is Cathartic To Complain Sometimes
Sure everybody has a bad day; the demanding boss, misbehaved kids, nagging partner, crappy weather and complaining about it is a natural release. Nonetheless when that is all you do continually it really does suck the life out of you. However, Dr Robin Kawalski, Professor of Psychology at Clemson University concurs that everyone at some point will complain at least a little and this can be healthy, “It’s cathartic sometimes to complain,” she says. It is necessary to vent and release the tension, however, to permanently complain to the same person can have a negative impact on the person complaining as well as to the person having to listen to it all.
“The more you think about dissatisfaction, the more you feel dissatisfied and the more the other people feel dissatisfied.” Dr Robin Kawalski
Dr Kawalski Identifies 3 Types Of Complainers
Venters – continually want to vent and disregard helpful advice and solutions
Sympathy Seekers – the individual who is constantly complaining that their life is always worse than yours
Chronic Complainers – constantly living in a state of complaint. Instead of feeling relief after they have complained, suffer more worry and anxiety.
Tips To Break The Habit Of Complaining
Be grateful – when you are grateful even for the smallest things it is difficult to complain at the same time. When you focus on the good things even during the crappiest moments, your perspective changes and you will find yourself in a better mood.
Have a sense of awareness – catch yourself before you go on a rant and stop yourself.
Letting Go – Avoid attaching negative stories and meaning to events, learn to let them go. In this way similar future events will be perceived differently.
Channel a new groove – you can train your brain to focus more positively on events rather than viewing them negatively. By channelling a new positive groove, this then becomes the norm and overrides the negative emotions.
Therefore, to vent occasionally to get your complaint out of your system is good, however, to constantly complain consumes valuable energy that could be better invested in positive outcomes.
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