No complaining week, day two.

36 hours or so into my complaint-free life, and things are going pretty well - can't complain! (Ha.)

Here are the tricky parts:
  1. Espen, who I spent most of my day with, is an endless source of unforeseen circumstances and surfaces that require cleaning. That is just a fact of life, and something I willingly and knowingly signed up for. However, that doesn't mean that I'm above making it known how I feel about pureed mango splattered across my kitchen or crunching yet another Cheerio under my sock. Sigh. It's not the little guy's fault, and I know it. Something to work on!
  2. While I'm doing pretty well at not complaining out loud, it's hard to stop my internal complaining sessions (I know! After an entire day and a half! Sheesh!). Just this afternoon I was looking out at our backyard, which looked just as glorious as any backyard could when the snow melts and uncovers everything that should have been taken care of before its neglectful owners were surprised by the snow in the first place. Anyway, I looked outside and started thinking about all of the cool stuff we had wanted to do to our yard when we moved in, how we still haven't done it yet, and how we're still unlikely to do it this year because we're going to Norway for five weeks (details to come!), and suddenly I was spiraling out of control into Internal Gripefestapalooza 2011. Of course it's the outward complaining and negativity that I especially want to work on, but doesn't it seem like a more positive attitude should start on the inside?
Seeing as I am in a listy mood, let me tell you about a few things that I don't want to complain about today:
  1. Homemade lasagna with salad and bread sticks for dinner. So tasty!
  2. An unexpected visit from a friend.
  3. Espen's sweet dance moves. He did not get those hips from me!
  4. A solo visit to the library.
  5. Seeing how much my parents (my dad, especially) enjoyed watching Espen play via Skype today.
Life is good. You may continue.


Comments

  1. I am so impressed with this goal! I'm very bad at this. Don't be too hard on yourself for not feeling it on the inside yet. There's that old saying (which I simultaneously hate but also think has some merit in some situations) "fake it till you make it." Some times inward changes do start on the outside. When I was trying hard to stop being judgmental of people (which I'm still not great at), I started by trying to stop talking bad about people, and then after awhile of doing that it actually changed out how felt on the inside.

    Anywho, alls I'm sayin' is, don't be so hard on yourself for not feeling it on the inside yet, I'm sure it will come!

    Long comment. Sigh. Sorry! I miiiiisssss yoooouuuuuu!!!!!

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  2. I like the list of things not to complain about. Sometimes that's the best way to run out of complaints. :)

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  3. I agree with Erin--"fake it till you make it" has worked for me many times. First work on outward, then inside feelings will come. But I'm proud of you! That's great!

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  4. It's just that complaining can make for such an interesting story--"I waited in the long, boring line, only to have this ugly, poorly-dressed, woman tell me I was in the wrong line. Then when I finally got up to the second, equally ugly and poorly-dressed person, with jewelry on his/her nostril, they told me I didn't have the right paper to begin with! It was horrible!"

    Much more of a story than, "I had a lovely day."

    Learning to not need to tell a story and just be happy. That's my challenge. And, yes, not complaining to myself--because that's what leads up to the big dramatic story.

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  5. Life is too short to be cranky...that's my new motto. It works most of the time. (That's probably a shade more than 50% but at least it's a huge improvement over me at 30 years old.)

    Barb

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  6. Welp, I've already failed royally in my quest to follow your non-complainy footsteps.

    It's Bill's fault. He's the one who asks, "how are you feeling?"

    And what, I'm supposed to lie to my man? This pregnancy is painful!

    And I'm pretty sure that if I were to achieve perfect non-complainyness when I haven't slept a real nights worth in at least four months, I would achieve sainthood.

    Mormon style.

    But this thing you're doing HAS made me more aware of my 'tude, and that has been priceless. So keep it up! I shall continue to trip along in your footsteps!

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