Hi,

How’s your day going?

I hope it is a good one.

Yesterday I was talking to an old acquaintance, and I was shocked to hear just how annoying she had become. I’m not meaning to sound rude, but it seemed like the only thing she did the entire time we talked was complain.

Apparently her new boyfriend couldn’t do anything right, and her babysitter was causing problems. There were other things she complained about also, but I won’t bore you with all of them.

I was surprised by how inconsiderate she was being by complaining constantly, but I was even more surprised to realize a bitter truth. That truth is: how often are we, as bipolar supporters, complainers just like she was?

How often do we spend so much time complaining about the things we don’t like, when we could be focusing on the things we do? How often do we waste our time that way, when we could be doing something more productive? That’s right, wasted time.

How many better ways could we be spending our time? I can think of a few. Can you?

I know it’s easy to fall into the pattern of complaining. I’ve certainly done it a few times. I think we all have had at least a few moments when we just need to vent everything that’s been going on with us lately. Everybody has those moments, whether they are a supporter of someone who has bipolar disorder or not. And as long as it stays an every-once-in- a-while thing, there’s nothing wrong with it.

But sometimes we let it go too far. Sometimes we let ourselves get so carried away in complaining about our loved ones that we forget that there are good things we can be talking about also. There is, after all, a difference between venting and complaining.

And there is a point where we spend so much energy complaining that we even forget that the person we are talking to might have something to say also. That’s when we run the risk of being as annoying as that old acquaintance of mine.

So what can we do to avoid all of this negativity? I know some people who would call that “negative energy” – I don’t really know what that means, but I know it isn’t something we want to have.

One of the things we can do to avoid negativity is simply to be positive. Go figure, right? It seems so simple! And guess what? It is!

All we have to do is think about the things that we really do love about our loved ones, and focus on them. That doesn’t mean that we have to ignore the bad things, or forget that they exist. It just means that they shouldn’t be the center of our focus.

Instead, when they do things that we can’t stand, we should allow ourselves to cope with the problem at hand, and then calm down and remember why we love them. After all, that’s what this is all about, isn’t it?

No one would be reading these emails if we didn’t love our loved ones. I wouldn’t even be writing these emails if I didn’t love my mother! But we all know that I love my mother, and you love your loved one.

So why do we complain about them? Most of the time it is out of frustration. So instead of complaining to a third party about something we are frustrated about, why can’t we just calm down and then talk to our loved one about what frustrates us?

This has to be done very carefully, of course. And it should be done when they are not in an episode, if that is at all possible.

But if we could just carefully approach our loved ones and say something like “Hey, you know it really frustrates me when you do this, do you think we can talk about what could be done instead?” How much of a difference do you think that would make? I can only imagine (and hope) that it would make a huge difference!

It would certainly be better than complaining about them to people who aren’t involved (and let’s face it, people who probably don’t care!) So instead of complaining, I’d like it if all of us – including me – would try to deal with the problem at hand and focus on the positive.

What do you think? Does that sound like a plan?

Well, I have to go!

Your Friend,

Dave