It’s Okay to Complain

Now that I’ve given myself permission, I’m going to get right at it. One of the things that drives me bonkers is the idea that you shouldn’t complain because somebody has it worse than you.

I saw this today on twitter. Calgary got snow – actually a fair bit of snow on April 28th.

As you can see this is not an insignificant amount of snow. And is it now the end of April. Very few days this April have felt like spring so understandably people are complaining about it. But yesterday, the Southeast US was hit with massive numbers of tornados leading to a lot of devastation in the area.

Because of this, someone suggested that we shouldn’t complain about the snow because that is so much worse. I take exception to this concept.

Obviously, it is much worse to be in the Southeast US dealing with multiple tornados than in Calgary dealing with a few rogue snowflakes. I can’t imagine who would disagree with that. But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong to complain about snow in April.

Yes, sometimes it can put things in perspective to realize that you are actually quite fortunate but where does it end? Do we tell the people in Alabama that they shouldn’t complain because the earthquake in Japan was worse? It sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? But someone always has it worse than you.

I’ve seen this on a smaller scale too with mothers who have lost their babies or aren’t able to have babies telling women who are struggling with adjusting to motherhood or sleepless nights that they shouldn’t complain because at least they have babies. My heart goes out to these women. I truly wish that everyone who wanted to have a baby was able to. But their personal tragedies does not negate the difficulties of motherhood. Just because someone has it worse does not mean that your complaints are not legitimate.

Do people sometimes complain too much? Sure. Are some people a little overly dramatic about the minor inconveniences of life? Absolutely. But one person’s complaint in no way takes away from the reality of someone else’s difficulties. So as far as I’m concerned, complain away.