Have you ever been in a waiting room or at a restaurant for dinner and overhear a conversation between some people near you and all you can think is how ridiculous they sound? Or how their problems really aren't problems at all? I feel like the more technology advances, the more people lose sight of real issues in the world.
Social media makes it so easy for people to keep in contact with their friends and family near and far, but have you ever noticed something consistent about your newsfeed? I have, and it's the theme of constant complaining. Usually the subject is something frivolous and not at all life altering to the person, but they still feel the need to let everyone know about it.
Whether it's someone who thinks they're a food critic, or someone who is complaining about work or any other kind of dumb complaint you can think of, you'll see it and you will either relate or you'll be annoyed that you even bothered wasting your time reading it. Lately I've been reflecting on how much of what I read on social media is basically people complaining about things that really are not important in the long run, myself included.
In my twenty short years, one thing that's always remained constant is that you can find people that complain about everything. One of my favorite sayings goes, "You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world and there's always going to be someone who hates peaches." Some people are never going to be happy and I actually think some people enjoy finding things to complain about (maybe that's just the waitress in me that thinks so). If you focus on the little things, you will never truly be happy.
Lately, I've been thinking about how everyone is missing out on what's really important. When I hear that a natural disaster, I expect that my newsfeed will be filled with commentary on the current tragedy. Instead, I log on and see that someone is trashing a restaurant because their burger wasn't exactly perfect. Tell me how much that unsatisfying burger is going to matter in five years or even two days. It will not matter. But what will matter is a person's life and how it's been impacted.
When I was younger, I never really noticed how much I complained, and how what I was complaining about was not even really important, until my dad mentioned it to me. It's not that I was actually unhappy, rather I think it was a habit that I had picked up from the world around me. Everyone's always complaining about something, but I think if you actually take the time to self reflect, you'll notice how much you complain, and you'll want to change that behavior just like I did.