Tired!
I am just plain tired of the whining
Today I was working at a client site and I interacted with many of the employees. Somewhere around 10 AM I found my energy really dropping. But it was worse than dropping, I felt like a tire quickly losing air. Then when I tried to figure out this “energy drain” I realized that my overriding emotion was one I can only characterize as depression. Why? Things were going well overall. Then Joanne (name changed to protect the innocent) came by:
“Can you believe this management, they are horrible...”
“My life is miserable?”
“All the employees here are just dumb and not capable...”
“The bureaucracy is overwhelming”
“Senior management just doesn’t care”
This went on non-stop for 20 minutes. Then I realized that I was allowing all the negative emotions permeating this company to get to me. The morale was low without a question but I never saw it like this.
I tried to interrupt her litany of pain and complaints and to get her to focus on a solution. She said “no solution was possible”. I said sure there is: You either stop complaining and accept your consequences or change your situation. That seemed to end the conversation.
At that moment, through my hard learned compassion I realized how rusted some thinking can be. Complaining is the first step in a path towards defining the problem but...you cannot stay focused always on the problem. If you do, you will drain yourself and others around you.
Just remember that if you only offer up complaints, they quickly turn into blood suckers.
Now here is the question I am left with: “How does one maintain a high level of energy when surrounded by such negativity and low emotions?”
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
