Complaining, in short, is the act of expressing your negative feelings towards someone or something in word form. As a 13 year-old graduating middle school in about four months, I can confidently say that these days, complaining has become the norm. It has to. Everybody complains. Although that does sound exaggerated, I assure you, it is not. Never in my life has there been a day when no one complained. Even on the day I was born, my mom complained on how painful giving birth was. Complaining, especially about people, has become a part of our lives. It is a habit that is hard to quit, similar to smoking, since most people simply do it for their pleasure. However, it is also something we need to stop. Right now.

Why?

Well, many people complain about others to feel more satisfied with their life. Sadly, the truth is complaining actually makes the person more unhappy. When you complain about someone, you remember the myriad of unhappy past events related to that person that made you want to Kung Fu chop the soul out of him or her. It is not hard to find a real life situation of this. Just a few weeks ago, my friend made a silly rumor about me. Although it was not a big issue, I, as a normal middle schooler, complained about it to my close friends. Unfortunately, complaining about that reminded me of her annoying me last year, which then reminded me of how we fought during our first acquaintance. In the end, I was more furious at her than I was before. This shows that complaining can actually cause the exact opposite result of the ultimate goal, which is clearly what many people are not intending to do.

To add on to that, your friendship with someone can shatter like glass in a second. When you tell your friend Bob something unpleasant about your close friend Sally, Sally might hear about it somehow. This might cause a hate-relationship between you and Sally. Although that may sound a little over the top, it is not. An extreme case of this has happened before at my school. Last semester, the students in a drama class were complaining about the dissatisfaction of a drama production poster, which the drama teacher accidentally heard. She got very upset, and the curtains closed to that act after the principal came to the students and gave them a lecture on respect.

If you thought that the drama of complaining could not get any worse, I hate to break it to you, but it does. When you are feeling more irritated from constant complaining, and it is causing many misunderstandings and conflicts with your friends, you are bound to have more stress. This is not an opinion; it is a fact. About 9% of teens’ stress comes from social life, so if you were getting more stressed because of your friends, this single digit number could change into a double digit one. I cannot imagine anyone with the right mind wanting more stress.

Of course, there are people that always tell me complaining is not bad. Those people constantly “complain” to me that since so many people complain about everyone, even if someone hears about it, they just dismiss it like it is no big deal. But… For those who believe in this ridiculous statement, I am excited to tell you that it can become a big deal. There are people who take complaining very seriously. “If someone complains about me, I will rip their guts out, wrap it around, and burn them alive,” explains one of my close friends. If you come across a person with a similar reaction as my friend, then all I can say is that I hope you come back in one piece. I personally think that it is a better idea to avoid that altogether by not complaining from the start, because are you willing to gamble your relationship with someone like that? I certainly hope not.

Overall, think of complaining like a boomerang. When you complain about someone, it will eventually come back to you. Sadly, this special boomerang not only comes back, but it hits you very hard in the stomach until you regret throwing it at the beginning. Do you want to get hit by this boomerang? I would definitely not want to get hit, and cannot understand why anyone would. Just because the boomerang you have been, are, and will be throwing is only hypothetical, it does not mean that you can throw it whenever you want. So please do not become Homer Simpson, and please do not throw the boomerang of complaining.