You’re sitting at a lunch table waiting for your friends to join you. You can’t help but overhear the conversation of the table next to you. A girl is complaining to her friend about her math teacher, about how it is all the teachers’ fault that she, and some other people in the class,failed the test. 

As the first semester of school is nearing the end, and finals are just around the corner, it’s common to hear a lot of muttering in the halls. I routinely hear students talking negatively about a class, complaining about a practice, and moaning about their homework. At this time of the year every student should take a step back and ask themselves, if they complain too much? I believe that people do complain too much. 

Teenagers as a whole are known to be a more negative group than most. They are going through a lot of changes in their life physically and emotionally and are also dealing with a lot of stress and comparison among peers.

A common way to relieve our stress for a moment or even relate to a friend is to complain about our hardships to someone else. An easy way to find common ground with someone is to talk about something negative. So complaining is a common occurrence. If we change our thoughts and start  thinking  positively we can change our life for the better. 

It might do some good for us all to understand what complaining does to our brain. According to a study from Stanford University, “When you complain, your brain releases stress hormones that damage your neural connections. Specifically, complaining affects your brain’s problem-solving and other cognitive functions.” 

So complaining is actually harmful to our brain’s health and gives us more stress. Especially with finals coming up, try to reduce your complaints, because it hurts your problem solving capability. Instead of complaining try to change your mindset to a more positive view.

 If you surround yourself with people who talk negatively and your thoughts are negative, you aren’t going to be your best self. Instead of complaining about life try to change the way you’re thinking about those complaints. 

For example, if you are complaining about how hard your math class is, stop and realize that yes you are taking a hard math class but hey, at least you are halfway done with it in one month! Shifting your focus to the things you can really feel happy about, is a great tool to increase genuine positivity.

According to positive thinking expert  Scaccia “When positive thoughts are generated, when you’re feeling happy, or optimistic, cortisol decreases and the brain produces serotonin, creating a feeling of well-being. When serotonin levels are normal, one feels happy, calmer, less anxious, more focused and more emotionally stable.” 

By thinking positively you can change your life for the better. It is not reasonable to think that everyone can cease complaining completely, but if we reduce our complaints we will find that our life will be better, we will feel happier and be more focused.

People as a whole complain too much and though challenging situations will always be a part of life, if you start to think more positively than you do negatively, you will change for the better.