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This is pretty great - not complaining is a virtue I really admire. I had a friend in college, he was an outdoorsy type, and did forest firefighting in the summ

This is pretty great - not complaining is a virtue I really admire. I had a friend in college, he was an outdoorsy type, and did forest firefighting in the summers. When we went on long hikes, we'd all be griping towards the end about how cold it was, how tired we were, how we should have not forgotten to bring X Y and Z - except him. He'd just start singing or taking the lead, and then we'd realize that he's actually in the same situation as all of us, and he'd given one of his layers to someone or something. Not annoyingly chipper, but just not complaining and doing what is necessary. What I noticed is that not griping not only drastically improves your mood, it also improves everyone else's mood. There are two kinds of gripes - ones that can actually effect change, and ones that can't. The latter seems to be the useless majority of gripes for me. Especially self-pity complaints seem to be the most egregious. Not complaining doesn't equate to being hard on yourself or being a rah-rah aggressive and stereotypically masculine human being. It's just that if you're in a situation, and you can't change anything, then complaining just makes you feel bad and makes the situation feel worse. It encourages you to put things off, to make them bigger and more difficult than they seem. And if you actually can change the situation you're in, then power to you, but go ahead and do something about it rather than /just/ complaining. Or maybe complain /to/ someone who can and will change things.

steveax 12y ago
I think the outdoors can be a great teacher - I know it has been for me about things like this. Many years ago a friend and I went to Yosemite to do a climb on Half Dome. Day one we were humping up to Little Yosemite Valley. It was a hot day and we were starting to grouse about the heat and elevation gain. As we rounded a switchback we were greeted by an enthusiastic "Good morning. Beautiful day isn't it!". Our greeter was wearing an enormous pack and was navigating the trail with crutches and leg braces. After chatting a bit, we carried on and vowed to not complain for the rest of the trip. Day 3 we were heading down to the Valley after completing the climb on the mist trail. It was a high snowpack year and the falls were thundering and true to the trail's name, blowing mist everywhere. We stripped down to shorts and no shirts and were reveling in the feeling of the mist and sun when we encountered a couple heading up the trail. They were in full boating rain gear and as we passed them I heard one say in a weepy voice "this is so horrible!". The lesson that stuck with me from that weekend: your conditions do not necessarily determine your experience.

steveax 12y ago

I think the outdoors can be a great teacher - I know it has been for me about things like this. Many years ago a friend and I went to Yosemite to do a climb on Half Dome. Day one we were humping up to Little Yosemite Valley. It was a hot day and we were starting to grouse about the heat and elevation gain. As we rounded a switchback we were greeted by an enthusiastic "Good morning. Beautiful day isn't it!". Our greeter was wearing an enormous pack and was navigating the trail with crutches and leg braces. After chatting a bit, we carried on and vowed to not complain for the rest of the trip. Day 3 we were heading down to the Valley after completing the climb on the mist trail. It was a high snowpack year and the falls were thundering and true to the trail's name, blowing mist everywhere. We stripped down to shorts and no shirts and were reveling in the feeling of the mist and sun when we encountered a couple heading up the trail. They were in full boating rain gear and as we passed them I heard one say in a weepy voice "this is so horrible!". The lesson that stuck with me from that weekend: your conditions do not necessarily determine your experience.