You Don't Have To Like It, But You Do Have To Do It

Let me get this out of the way first:  I have nothing against gratitude or positivity or cheerfulness.  Well, not much, anyway.  I even have a gratitude practice in my daily journaling.  It has documented benefits and increases joy and all that important stuff.

It can also be annoying as hell.  And sometimes counterproductive (check out Bright-Sided by Barbara Ehrenreich if you’re interested.)

There are times when the best thing we can do is to acknowledge how we really feel, even if it is not the socially acceptable positive emotion other people would like us to experience.  In other words, sometimes whining is good for the soul.

What whining is not is an excuse to avoid doing the unpleasant whatever it is.  Those lunges aren’t going to do themselves.  If bitching about them the whole time gets us through, that’s awesome.  The lunges are done and we might even have come up with some creative new ways to describe how much we hate them.

The best part?  Afterwards we get to feel extra virtuous because we’ve done something we have admitted is hard and terrible.