I was doing the study guide for Brooke’s podcast on Self-Pity. One of the questions is “when something unexpected happens that you could justify complaining or whining about, what might you think to prevent self-pity?”.
This gave me an a-ha moment. I realized that I complain and turn to self-pity in order to relate to others. When people are complaining (which people are all the time), my instinct is to complain with them. I don’t know how to relate to people without complaining. I did a short trial in which I decided not to complain, and realized that I had nothing to talk about with almost anyone that I know. This brings up the question-if I can’t relate to my friends without complaining, do I have to give up all of those friendships?