What gets up my goat
I suffer from insomnia. God knows why. It's been going on for months now. I go to sleep ok and I sleep soundly for four or five hours and then I just wake up. Half of me blames my iPhone. I roll over to check the time on it and then those buttons just lure me. I check my emails, I check out my stars for the day, my calendar, I add to my calendar...it just goes on and on until dawn. I took up Spanish six weeks ago because I thought I could put these hours and hours of ghastly sleep deprived time to good use. The problem is that whenever I turn the reading lamp on it just seems so damned bright. Why would I turn the lamp on if my ultimate aim is to go back to sleep? So as I slowly slip behind in my Spanish I've been giving some serious thought to what I can do with those hours that could possibly be constructive. I finally decided on this blog.
Many of my faithful followers to my previous blog "Vietnam - travelling alone with 5 children" (all 17 of you - 15 of who I personally subscribed or forced to subscribe to updates) will recall the ease with which I slip into whinge mode. In fact I estimate I spend about four hours a day just describing to other people what gets up my goat - my work colleagues and my children bearing nearly the full brunt of this. Wouldn't it be grand if I could lighten the load a little on those dearest and closest to me and let a little of that vile poison out in this blog?
I don't think complaining is a bad thing, and I was positive there would be a lot of research out there to back me up. I turned first to the Journal of Clinical Psychology. Actually I turned to PubMed and typed "complaining" into the search bar, and the first article that came to my attention was an article published online in 2002 - Whining, griping, and complaining: Positivity in the negativity (Kowalski, Robin M.) Just click here if you'd like to view the abstract for this article. Unfortunately, the full article can only be viewed if you part with some money. Basically, the article looks for the positive features in this sometimes socially aversive behaviour. This article states that research has shown that there are quite a few redeeming features to complaining. Improved mood; increased self esteem; feelings of intimacy and trust with those you complain to; group socialisation; ego protection (as in: I have a sore foot so I probably won't win the running race today); and commitment testing. We use complaining to judge commitment within a relationship. Those people not committed to relationship are usually less likely to be influenced by a complaint. Anyway, to cut to the chase, complaining is GOOD for us! There's plenty more research out there that backs this up.
This blog is here for me to vent, and now that I've read a little of the research, I'm feeling really good about starting this blog. It's here for me and it's here for you too. I'm happy to pass on complaints for my friends, complaints for strangers and complaints for society in general. I'll try to stick to the interesting ones that have a bit of substance. I'll try to keep my personal life out of this blog, but I apologise if it occasionally creeps in. I'm single and I'm a member of a dating website, so there are bound to be a few beauties to write about there.
Why Doris? Well, it sounds like the name of someone who would have something to complain about.
Please, don't hesitate to send me your comments and let me know when I need to expand on an issue or just shut the *@#$ up.
Of course there are downsides to complaining as well...
Many of my faithful followers to my previous blog "Vietnam - travelling alone with 5 children" (all 17 of you - 15 of who I personally subscribed or forced to subscribe to updates) will recall the ease with which I slip into whinge mode. In fact I estimate I spend about four hours a day just describing to other people what gets up my goat - my work colleagues and my children bearing nearly the full brunt of this. Wouldn't it be grand if I could lighten the load a little on those dearest and closest to me and let a little of that vile poison out in this blog?
I don't think complaining is a bad thing, and I was positive there would be a lot of research out there to back me up. I turned first to the Journal of Clinical Psychology. Actually I turned to PubMed and typed "complaining" into the search bar, and the first article that came to my attention was an article published online in 2002 - Whining, griping, and complaining: Positivity in the negativity (Kowalski, Robin M.) Just click here if you'd like to view the abstract for this article. Unfortunately, the full article can only be viewed if you part with some money. Basically, the article looks for the positive features in this sometimes socially aversive behaviour. This article states that research has shown that there are quite a few redeeming features to complaining. Improved mood; increased self esteem; feelings of intimacy and trust with those you complain to; group socialisation; ego protection (as in: I have a sore foot so I probably won't win the running race today); and commitment testing. We use complaining to judge commitment within a relationship. Those people not committed to relationship are usually less likely to be influenced by a complaint. Anyway, to cut to the chase, complaining is GOOD for us! There's plenty more research out there that backs this up.
This blog is here for me to vent, and now that I've read a little of the research, I'm feeling really good about starting this blog. It's here for me and it's here for you too. I'm happy to pass on complaints for my friends, complaints for strangers and complaints for society in general. I'll try to stick to the interesting ones that have a bit of substance. I'll try to keep my personal life out of this blog, but I apologise if it occasionally creeps in. I'm single and I'm a member of a dating website, so there are bound to be a few beauties to write about there.
Why Doris? Well, it sounds like the name of someone who would have something to complain about.
Please, don't hesitate to send me your comments and let me know when I need to expand on an issue or just shut the *@#$ up.
Of course there are downsides to complaining as well...
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