The Cost of Complaining: How I Sabotaged My Own Progress.

Hello everyone!

The #weeekend-engagment has just been posted by Hive account@galenkp, and basically, the question i would be talking about is, "Do you think you complain too much, and does it block positive forward progress??.

To be very honest, yes—I’ve come to realize that I complain more than I should. It’s not like I do it intentionally or because I enjoy it, but over time, I’ve noticed it about myself, and a few of my friends have mentioned it too, especially when we’re in school. I think it mainly happens when things feel too difficult or when things aren’t going the way I expected. That’s when I started getting frustrated, and instead of facing the challenge head-on, I started complaining.

There have been many situations in class where I’d just start saying things like, “This assignment is too stressful,” or “How do they expect us to finish all this?” Even when we’re given notes to study, if the material looks bulky, I immediately begin to complain that it’s too much and I might not be able to finish it. I don’t even give myself the chance to try. I just see the work and start feeling overwhelmed.

One particular experience that really made me reflect on this habit was a course we had in school. The note for that course was so bulky—it was a PDF that felt like a full textbook. And to make matters worse, it had calculations, which I’ve always tried to avoid. Instead of tackling it little by little, I kept complaining. I told myself it was just too much, too hard, too stressful. I didn’t even make an effort to ask for help from my course mates or look for ways to break it down. I kept pushing it aside until we were just a few weeks to the exam.

By that time, I was already trying to focus on other courses, so I had little to no time left for the one I had been avoiding. The day before the exam, I realized I hadn’t read much at all, and I had so much to cover. Out of panic, I just hoped I’d get lucky and maybe get some help during the exam.

But things didn’t go the way I had imagined. I ended up being placed right in front, where I couldn’t even whisper a word to anyone. The moment the questions hit my desk, I just knew deep down that I had messed up. I didn’t even need anyone to tell me—I felt it. But even after the exam, I was still blaming the lecturer and complaining that the lecturer gave us too many notes to cover up instead of just admitting that I had been lazy and unserious.

When the result finally came out and I saw an E, I wasn’t even shocked. I just sighed because I knew I had brought it on myself.

From that experience, I learned a tough but valuable lesson. Complaining too much doesn't solve anything. It wastes time, kills motivation, and stops you from making progress. If I had used all the time I spent complaining to actually do the work, I probably would have had a better result. Now, I try to catch myself when I start to complain and remind myself that the only way forward is to act, not to whine.

Thanks for reading.