Complaining leads to Inaction

There is no shortage of persons who can point out all the flaws of society, no matter which country you are in or where you are there is always someone who can tell you precisely what is wrong with the world. When it comes to my country Cameroon, you can get that assessment pretty much every where you look, whether its those who are drinking in bars, on news channels, in offices, even on the roadside everybody knows pretty well what is wrong and they can go as far as proposing solutions too.

What really surprised me was that even the leaders too know what is wrong and also complain, how hilarious is that? This isn’t a unique problem to my country alone, in pretty much any country you might see the same thing, presidents complaining about the system, politicians, workers etc. Complaining is nothing new, so what is actually wrong with complaining then?

When you make it a habit of complaining all the time, you might not realize it, but you are actually making things much more difficult for you in the end.

The victim mentality

Complaining provides you relief, it helps you vent out your frustrations which removes a huge load off your back and makes you feel instantly better, you also receive the sympathy of others which is a bonus. We don’t always agree on a lot of things, but complaining is one of those areas where you can always find a friend, this creates a sense of connection and validation which is a pretty good feeling.

When people complain they always attribute their issues to everything else except themselves, in their mind they are doing everything correctly, but it's the others who are failing and by doing this they feel helpless. They make themselves out to be the victim who can’t do anything because their problems come from somewhere else, and this ultimately leads them to inaction. They feel they lack control, they are helpless and there is nothing they can do to change things. I’m sure you might have noticed that people who tend to complain don’t do much to change things.

Problem-solving is affected

When you spend so much time complaining, it prevents you from finding adequate solutions to the problems you are facing and taking action. It isn’t enough for you to know the problem and you can’t just whip out an obvious solution everybody could have thought of. Complaining often leads to negativity and a pessimistic mindset, which is much more interested in voicing out frustrations than finding adequate solutions.

As a result, persons who like complaining tend to keep on doing just that over and over again. Dealing with societal problems isn’t a day's job, it isn’t just something you figure out over a beer or while sitting in a taxi, it requires putting in place comprehensive strategies which will provide a sustainable change. This can only be done with the right information and a lot of brainstorming, without mentioning all the resources and effort required. How would you do all of this if you are busy complaining all the time?

Infinite cycle

At the end of the day we are stuck in an infinite loop where our complaining leads us to inaction and our inaction leads us to even more complaining. There are definitely things you can do to deal with the subjects of your complaints, whether they are small actions or bigger ones, whether their impact is far-reaching or not, but complaining is certain to never move the needle. No matter the problem, if a sufficient number of persons take action then things are bound to change, but we’ve already seen protests done by millions of people which didn’t change anything.

Of course, I am not implying that we should quit complaining all together, but it shouldn’t become our full-time job at the end of the day.

Solutions

We should rather shift our focus towards the constructive actions we can take to address the subjects of our concern. There is no shortage of problems through human history, and our story is one of constant innovation and development, I am confident that we can address what are obviously human made problems.

Putting so much energy in to complaining produces only negativity, but when we channel this energy rather into productive actions which can build up into a durable solution, then that will be much more beneficial for everybody. Else we just end up cycling through things to complain about, today it's the economy, tomorrow it's the leaders, the next day it's this group of persons, the day after it's this product and the cycle never ends.

Conclusion

Complaining provides you an addictive relief, once which recomforts your victim mentality and makes you feel helpless. It also leads you to inaction and a sense of not having control, meanwhile the power is in your hands, to change your life and to change your environment. When there is something you don’t like about the world, you can change it, that just requires a lot of effort. Shift your focus rather to solutions, setting realistic goals, cultivating gratitude, seeking constructive feedback, developing emotional intelligence, and creating accountability structures to transform your complaints into meaningful action.

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