People always find reasons to complain. It doesn’t matter if they have the latest edition of the iPhone, a beautiful ocean view at their beach house, a simple roof over their heads or a nice hot meal in front of them every day — we will find somethingto complain about. “The Wi-Fi is too slow,” “I wanted black, not gray,” “it’s too hot,” “it’s too sandy,” “our house is too small,” “our house is too big,” “chicken isn’t my favorite, I wish you had made steak.” It’s almost an art, the way some people can pick out the negatives in every situation and complain about it to anyone who might listen.

I’m certainly not saying that I’m perfect. I definitely have my own things to complain about, just like everyone else, because let’s face it, we’re all human. But, there are certain people who seem to thrive off complaining whenever possible, which is unfortunate for their friends or whoever else happens to be around at the time. These people need to master the art of not complaining, for the sake of their loved ones and for their own sakes.

There are some things that I’ve learned in my life that have made not complaining so much easier for me. One of these things is thinking about what I have in my life that I’m grateful for, and then being thankful for having necessities like food, water and shelter, things that a lot of people don’t have. And then I make myself think about the things I have that aren’t vital for my survival, like technology and everything else in my life that I use for leisure, things that make me happy and things that other people can’t afford. Why should I complain about luxuries when people can’t even afford the necessities of life?

Another thing I think about is something that my mom’s friend told her one time.

He said, “If you aren’t going to do anything to change your situation, stop complaining about it.”

That really struck me, and I think about that a lot, and other people would really benefit from remembering that, as well. If you’re having a problem in your life that you could fix yourself, then don’t just sit around and complain about it constantly. Bringing it up once in a while is one thing, but your friends don’t want to hear you whining every single day about an issue that you could easily solve yourself. Complaining gets you absolutely nowhere, and it only ends up aggravating other people and digging you further into your negativity. Complaining is the easy way out. Stop getting complacent in your criticisms and instead, get up and do something to change your situation.