The Things You Should Stop Complaining About Right NOW (and what to do instead)
Jan 14, 2026
Because They Steal Your Life One Minute at a Time
Complaining feels harmless. Sometimes it even feels bonding. But most of the things we complain about fall into one category. They are completely outside our control. And every minute spent arguing with reality is a minute not spent actually living.
I’ve noticed something over the years, both in my own life and in working with high-performing, deeply thoughtful people. The more someone complains about what they cannot change, the smaller their life starts to feel. Not because life shrinks, but because their attention does.
Here are some of the most common things people complain about that quietly waste time, energy, and emotional bandwidth.
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The weather
I once watched two people experience the same rainy vacation. One stayed irritated the entire trip. The other bought a jacket, slowed down, and found a coffee shop she still talks about years later. The rain didn’t change. Their experience did. Complaining about the weather is arguing with something that has never once asked for your opinion. Adjust, adapt, or move on. That’s it. -
Time moving faster
Everyone says it. “I can’t believe how fast time is flying.” Time hasn’t sped up. Your attention has fragmented. When life feels fast, it’s usually because presence is low. Complaining about time doesn’t slow it down. Being intentional does. -
Slow taxes or bureaucracy
I’ve stood in lines. I’ve waited on hold. We all have. The system may be slow, but your frustration doesn’t make it faster. It just raises your blood pressure. Handle what’s in front of you, then release it. Systems don’t respond to emotional resistance. -
Your age
I’ve met people at 30 who are already done with life and people at 70 who are just getting started. Age is not the problem. Attachment to who you think you should be by now is. Complaining about age keeps you stuck in comparison instead of curiosity. -
Other people’s opinions of you
A woman once told me she changed careers because her family “wouldn’t understand.” Years later, she was resentful and exhausted. Opinions are not instructions. Complaining about them keeps you orbiting someone else’s expectations instead of your own values. -
Historical events
The past already happened. You can study it, learn from it, and honor it. But reliving it through constant complaint only anchors you to something you cannot revisit or redo. History informs wisdom. It does not require emotional residence. -
Your height and general physical presence
I’ve watched people shrink themselves socially because they felt “too much” or “not enough.” Your body is not a negotiation. Complaining about what you were born into pulls focus away from what you can actually build, express, and contribute. -
Other people’s illness
Illness is hard. Watching someone you love suffer is heartbreaking. But chronic complaint often masks helplessness. You cannot heal someone else’s body through resentment or anger at reality. What helps is compassion, presence, and boundaries. -
Death
Death is the one appointment no one cancels. Complaining about it doesn’t make it less real. It just steals appreciation from the time you actually have. Mortality isn’t meant to terrify us. It’s meant to clarify us. -
The way nature is
Storms, heat, cold, seasons, decay. Nature does not adjust itself to human comfort. It never has. Complaining about it is forgetting that you are part of it, not above it. Respect replaces resentment when we remember that.
What to Do Instead
Life gets smaller when your energy is spent fighting what cannot be changed. It expands when that same energy is redirected toward what you can shape.
Pay attention to where your focus goes.
Ask yourself if the thing you’re upset about is actually actionable.
If it’s not, release it faster.
There is more to life than rehearsing frustration. More depth than daily irritation. More meaning available when you stop arguing with reality and start participating in it.
Control what’s yours.
Adapt to what isn’t.
And save your energy for the parts of life that actually grow when you show up fully.
That’s where peace lives.
Cheers-
Jen
PS. I adapted this from a Wayne Dyer book I read. LOVE him!