Complaining is draining.
I’m utilitarian. I always try to think of the best outcome for everyone. So I flipped the question:
“What’s the thing most people don’t understand, which causes us a lot of pain and grief?”
I think that thing is complaining.
Complaining has a return on investment of zero. Ze-ro. Yet it’s a billion dollar industry.
It’s the backbone of the news industry, the self-help industry and the consumer industry.
- The news thrive on complaints.
- “Woman spills McDonalds coffee in her car, gets no refill, insanity!!”
- “Local police complains about understaffing problem.”
- “Did Miley really wear this ugly dress?!”
- Self-help gurus make money off your misery.
- Have anxiety? Find your inner light.
- Not productive enough? Get my productivity training.
- Don’t sleep well? Grab my special fluffy pillow.
- Consumerism peddles a material pill for every pain.
- Don’t look the part? Buy this $200 dress.
- Not cool enough? Get this 700″ TV.
- Feel empty inside? This 2400 watt audio system will fix it.
If everyone stopped complaining and instead spent all of their energy on fixing their problems and those of others, the world would be a better place.
We wouldn’t need spiteful news to spur all this outrage.
We wouldn’t need $500 ebooks to tell us what Seneca said 2,000 years ago for free.
We wouldn’t fall for expensive fixes for cheap problems.
Call me a dreamer, but I imagine a complaint-free world. A world in which we take full responsibility, focus on what really matters and move the world forward together.
Complaining is draining. Sorry about complaining about that.
