Have you ever tried to stop complaining? Not just about your boss, or the weather, or the long wait for the train. I mean, about everything. No complaining. At all. For an entire day. For 21 entire days – 21 days in a row… 30204 straight, complaint free minutes… Believe me when I say that this is no easy feat. Today I made it until approximately 12:30pm. Mouth shut. Complaints swallowed. But after sitting through 2 hours of a miserably unproductive staff meeting I let loose to a co-worker. Damn it. Then I told my boyfriend about it again. And then I complained about how crowded the train was, how my grocery bags were too heavy, how long I waited for the train on my ride home.

And so, my bracelet will be worn on my left wrist tomorrow. And I will start over at Day 1.

Although I’m starting over, and I have yet to make it through one entire day without a complaint slipping through my lips, this challenge has made me so much aware of how negative I can be – about the simplest things! You know? Complaining about the long wait for the train, is not going to make it arrive any more quickly. And the coolest thing is that a bunch of times each day, as soon as that whiny little negative voice starts creeping into my head, I catch it and turn it into something else. A simple thing like rephrasing a statement – turning “Ugh, I’m starving” into “Wow, Maccie this dinner is going to be so delicious!” – can seriously do loads for the mood.

“I found that when you start thinking and saying what you really want then your mind automatically shifts and pulls you in that direction. And sometimes it can be that simple, just a little twist in vocabulary that illustrates your attitude and philosophy.”

— Jim Rohn

Time to stop filling the room with negativity.

Cheers to trying again.