The Problem With Complaining

It was recently that time of the year to change the clocks. Spring forward one hour. The reason I knew daylight savings time was approaching was that my news feed started to get littered with articles and posts all bemoaning this inconvenience. Complaining about changing the clocks seems to be a twice a year tradition that has become so predictable you can, well, set your clocks to it. Could our collective hatred towards daylight savings time be the last thing we as a country are unified about?

But what does this public groaning produce? Nothing besides a mountain of unproductive complaints. Which, as it turns out, can be more harmful to our health than losing out on an hour of sleep once a year.

What does complaining get you? Increased stress. Decreased productivity. And a whole slew of relational issues.

I appreciate what Elle Kaplan has to say about why complaining becomes so easy for us to do and what impact it has on us. She also offers up ways to curb the tendency to complain: Be mindful. Reframe negative thoughts. Redirect negative conversations. Search for a solution. And most importantly, practice gratitude.

“When we complain, we train our brains to look for the negative qualities in something or someone. This can lead to deleterious results in our professional and personal relationships. To combat this, practice gratitude.” – Elle Kaplan

So daylight savings time has come and gone. We survived another weekend of losing an hour of sleep. I’m thankful we did. It means that spring is just around the corner, and with that, comes warmer weather, blooming flowers, and baseball. What’s there to complain about?