Quit Complaining
Circumstances do not actually mean that much, quit complaining.
This is the same kind of thing that I wrote about a few weeks back. But there are a few reasons that circumstances are not really that significant.
The first is that everyone places value on different things. The second is that everyone perceives an experience differently.
Values are different for each individual but here is what I mean by that: the same event may be more important or impactful for one person than it would be another. Let’s look at an easy application of this, the weather.
Currently living in West Palm Beach, FL, it seems to rain nearly every day. Sometimes it rains and sometimes it does not rain. When I wake up, if it is raining, well, maybe I won’t be able to do the workout I had wanted to quite as easily. If it is not raining and there are clear skies, maybe that enables me to have the workout I had initially planned. But, to me, the weather is the weather and I value my happiness and overall attitude at a higher level than I do the weather. I tell myself that I CAN feel happy regardless of the weather and then CHOOSE to feel happy.
For others, they may tell themselves that they will only be able to be happy if there is a sunny day. They may sulk into the office at 9:00 and loudly exclaim their disbelief about the rain. Well, it is a good thing to share our perspectives and opinions, however, that definitely affects their attitude, because they let it. Some people value the weather above their attitude or emotion.
I was always taught growing up, “Only complain about something that you are going to do something about.”
When placed in relation to the weather, we cannot control the weather, so we must not complain about it. As people who want to experience positive attitudes consistently, they must enable themselves to experience those emotions.
The second reason circumstances do not have much significance relates to the different ways that people perceive experiences. Every experience has significance, yes, but to what extent?
If in a classroom, the student who, since the first day of class, has arrived 10 minutes early, shows up 20 minutes late, does that matter? Should the professor go on to discipline them and remove points for participation? Maybe. But, why? If they are consistently a good student and have not been late up to this point, why would them being late this one time truly matter? Granted, the significance of the student’s actions would be different if there was a test that day in contrast to a typical day, yet, how much different? Should the professor complain about this student? Probably not, one event does not define them.
Why should something so minute in the grand scheme of things be circumstantially important? If it is not going to matter in 5 months, 5 weeks, or even 5 days, why complain? Why not do something more productive and take action?
If there is a circumstance within our control, we must not complain, but rather strategize and take action. If there is a circumstance out of our control, we must also not complain, but rather adapt and again, take action.
Overall, if a circumstance does not mean that much, why complain about it? Why not simply take action and either change it or adapt? We may not always have control over our circumstances or the things that we experience but we have so much more control over our reaction to them and the level to which they affect us than many people realize.