We all know at least one person who likes to complain.

 

I’m not taking about someone who has had a bad experience and wants to vent.

 

I mean the type of person who complains all the time about everything. They look for something negative about their health, being stuck in traffic, the state of the economy, politics and anything that comes up in conversation.

I once worked with someone who never had anything nice to say about anything. He was always talking about how all his sports teams lost and how they should trade the overpaid star players, fire the manager and change the people in the front office.

 

He would talk about how lousy his weekend was, his electric bill, how his car broke down, that his kids were out of control, he wasn’t being paid enough...

 

If he won the lottery, he would probably complain about the long drive to pick up his multi-million dollar check.

 

It didn’t take long before everyone at work did anything they could to avoid him. My solution was to make believe I was on the phone every time I saw him coming in my direction.

 

He probably complained to someone else that I was always on the phone. But that’s their problem.

 

It’s been said that negative energy actually affects our health, and listening to someone constantly complain causes stress. A study has shown that exposure to 30 minutes or more of negativity destroys neurons in the brain’s hippocampus - the part we use for problem-solving. 

 

No wonder people who live with someone who complains all the time have health issues. It’s like having a physical pain that never goes away.

 

 And it’s not like the complainer is looking for a solution. I’ve found from experience that they’re more often looking for someone to share their negativity.

 

You’ll hear them say something negative and then ask, “Am I right, ot what?” hoping for support.

 

Any solution you offer won’t change the situation. They’ll find a reason it won’t work. 

 

The one good thing complainers do is make the rest of us think about how we come across to others. I’ve had a few bad things happen to me over the years, but I do my best not to burden friends, family or co-workers with my problems.

 

I figure they probably have their own issues to deal with and don’t need anything else on their plate.

 

So when someone asks me how I’m doing. I just say, “I can’t complain.”