On Tuesday gone, I took part in a no complaints day challenge – 24 hours without any complaining or negativity.
Image courtesy of cuddlefairy.com
I saw the challenge over on the Cuddle Fairy blog. Becky is such a positive blogger and she always posts about happy things and gratitude, so she really was the perfect person to do this challenge with.
As I said above, the no complaints day challenge is 24 hours without complaints or negativity. To keep us all motivated and in a positive mind frame, Becky and the others taking part posted uplifting tweets to us all which I found really helpful.
My First Thoughts on Taking Part
When I first saw Becky’s post, I knew straight away I wanted to join in. Anything that brings a little positivity into our lives is worth a shot, right.
In general, I consider myself to be a pretty positive person, although I am a realist (some people would say cynical but I much prefer realist).
The Tuesday it was happening was a work day, and if I’m honest I knew getting through a work day with no negative thoughts or complaints would be hard.
But I decided if I was in, I was all in, so I agreed to take part and give it 100%.
I found that by the time the challenge day came around, I was in a really good frame of mind and I was looking forward to seeing how it would go.
It’s a great feeling, knowing that whatever happens in the day, you are going to take it in your stride and be positive. It’s like making a conscious choice to be happy.
No Complaints Day – What Went Wrong?
The first thing that went wrong was jamming my thumb in a car door. It took a fair chunk of skin off and it hurt like hell. There was no way to put a positive spin on that and the air may have turned a little blue, but I was determined not to spend the rest of the day moaning about it.
Twitter! Twitter crashed! How is that even possible? I think the universe was playing a little joke on us. But I did manage to put a positive spin on that one – if Twitter was down, there was a far smaller chance of me getting caught using my phone at work.
There was also the usual daily moans that work brings – why is no one capable of putting anything back where it belongs? Why do some customers have to act that way? And of course, the million and one things I find to berate myself about in a day.
No Complaints Day – What Went Right?
The thumb – it was lovely having a little group of Twitter buddies to tell, and especially nice that they said personal injury moments were exempt.
Twitter – It came back up, the world didn’t stop turning and something that usually would have had me cursing and shouting didn’t.
Work – It was the best day I’ve had at work for ages. I went in with the right attitude and it was a very different experience. The stuff that was left all over I put away without moaning. The customers that were less than nice (to use the politically correct term) I just ignored and didn’t bite and the ones who moan for moaning sake I just smiled at without any verbal response at all. In fairness, that was probably pretty creepy for them so they might not moan as much to me in the future. I should have suggested they take part in no complaints day.
What Did I Learn?
I feel like I really learned a lot from this challenge. I learned:
- I’m not always as positive as I could be
- Going into something with a positive attitude makes even the more mundane and disliked tasks easier mentally
- Not to let other people’s negativity affect me so much
- That being positive all the time is hard, but worth it
- That not letting the little things get to you is surprisingly freeing
- That a lot of my negativity is learned behaviour/a habit
And most importantly, I learned that I find it reasonably easy to remain positive in the face of things other people do, or things out of my control, but I find it really hard to remain positive about things I have done. Probably 70% of my negative thoughts are directed inwards – telling myself I have done something stupid, or should have done something better or differently.
Through this challenge, I learned that I have to accept that sometimes, things go wrong. I will mess up and I should learn to apply the same forgiveness to myself as I would to someone else if they made the same mistake.
Because of the no complaints day, I am trying to be more positive every day. I know realistically no one can be positive about everything 100% of the time, so I aiming for 50% of the time as a start point.
I would like to thank Becky from Cuddle Fairy for running the no complaints day challenge and all the supportive tweets, and also the rest of my little support group – Catie from Diary of an Imperfect Mum, Trista from Domesticated Momster and Michelle from Rockin’ Random Mom. You ladies rock!
We will be having another no complaints day next month. If you would like to be involved, leave your Twitter name in the comments, or tweet me @randommusings29 and we will keep you updated about the next one.
Do you think you could do no complaints day? Would it be hard? Let me know in the comments 🙂
You can find me here: Twitter Bloglovin Pinterest and Instagram Please do stop by and say hi!
Great post Hun. I agree totally that it is hard to be consistently positive especially with yourself. But I found it a great experience too. Thanks for the mention and the positive vibes and see you at the next one x
Thank you 🙂 It is hard, but it’s worth it for the good feeling you get from not being negative. You’re welcome, looking forward to it 🙂 x
I too found it easier to catch myself and correct myself from the negative thoughts throughout the day. I did good all day but the evening caved in on me. Thanks for the mention lady and the support. Hope your thumb is better! 💌Trista
Even getting through the day is a huge achievement and helps life your mood. You’re welcome 🙂 It’s getting there lol.
Great post, Debbie! I’m so glad that the day meant this much to you & that you realized so much about the way you think. That’s what was shocking to me the first time I took the challenge. It’s amazing how many negative thoughts we have in our head during the day. It’s quite liberating to choose to push them aside. You did so well despite the injury & twitter down. Thank you for the mentions. I hope we get a few more to join us next time 🙂 x
It really surprised me what I learned, I thought it was just going to be a bit of fun. I mean it was fun too but I got a lot out of it. I had no idea how many negative thoughts I have in a day! You’re welcome. Yes, I hope so too x
Well done – sounds like you did really well especially with jamming your thumb in the car door (ouch!) and Twitter going down! This sounds like a great challenge and I’d love to try and give it a go – I can imagine that letting go of negative thoughts can be incredibly liberating even though it is hard to do. Let me know when the next challenge is and I’ll try to join in – I’m @liquoriceuk over on Twitter 🙂
The thumb thing was challenging to say the least! I think Twitter being down would have been a lot harder to deal with if I’d been at home but because I was at work it didn’t affect me quite so much. Great, thank Louise, I will do 🙂
What a great idea! Love the idea of being positive and no moans all day. I always like to think having a positive attitude to everything makes such a difference x #KCACOLS
It was a really good experience, I learned a lot about how going into a day with the right mind set can really make a difference 🙂 x
I also did this challenge, Debbie! How did I not notice you were too! I was on twitter quite a lot until it crashed but I did have to spend some time away from the internet and constantly had to have words with myself to stay on the right road and not be negative or complain. 🙂 Great post about your own experience.
I saw your comment on Becky’s post and I thought the same – how did I not know you were doing it too lol 🙂 It’s harder than you think it’s going to be isn’t it! Hope to see you on the next one, thank you 🙂
Great post well done not sure I could of managed that thanks for linking to the Binkylinky
Thank you 🙂 It was hard but worth it. Thanks for hosting!
Sounds like a great thing to take part in. I hope your thumb is better. I try to look on the positive side as much as I can. Thanks for linking up to the #BinkyLinky
It was fab Emily! My thumb is a lot better thanks 🙂 Me too, it really does lift your mood. Thanks for hosting
I love this idea. I read about it on someone else’s blog and I think, as you say, anything that inspires a bit more positivity can only be a good thing. You make really interesting reflections about the external things being easier to approach positively than the internal. I imagine that’s so true for so many people. Similarly, for me, often ‘things’ will go wrong or my family will be more annoying on days when I’M tired or grumpy (and probably more annoying) not them. #KCACOLS
It was definitely eye opening, and I learned a lot about how I think and how I respond to things. That’s a really good point – things that bother you when you’re in that frame of mind normally wouldn’t!
Great post. Positivity is definitely a good thing to work on. I took part too and I badly broke my toe the day before so can sympathise with your thumb injury! I am still limping and think I need to actually go to the docs as not healing. So pretty impressed I managed to not complain! Doing again today though so shhhh 😉 #KCACOLS
Thank you 🙂 Ouch, I can imagine that made it hard for you! Well done on not complaining (even though I think you had a right to with a broken toe lol). I’m doing it again too, going well do far. Hope you are doing well too!
This post is amazing! I love the positive message and your attitude is fantastic. Love it xx #KCACOLS
Thank you so much, I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂 x
Fab idea! You seemed to learn lots about yourself too and a great day at work is a bonus! I bet it was a challenge though. Count me in next time 🙂 Thanks for sharing with #bestandworst xx
Such a wonderful idea for a challenge. Becky is super positive. I try but sometimes things get to me. I think it is so important to be positive and grateful. Thanks for linking up to #TheList x
Thank you 🙂 Becky is the queen of positivity, it really helped having her tweet us encouragement all day! It is important to be positive but like you say it can be hard sometimes. Thanks for hosting 🙂 x
I read Becky’s post on this last week and thought it was such a fab idea! Good on you for giving it a go. I hope your thumb is better now?
Thanks so much for linking up to #KCACOLS and I hope to see you back again on Sunday x
It was a great idea, I really enjoyed taking part! Yes all better now thanks 🙂 Thanks for hosting, see you next week for sure x