I just finished reading A Complaint Free World by Will Bowen. Basically he came up with the idea to give people at his church bracelets and whenever they complained, they’d switch them to the other wrist to be more aware of their actions. Their goal was to go complaint free for 21 days.

It struck a nerve.

In trying to better myself, complaining is definitely something I can do without. It makes me feel dirty and negative, and I just don’t need that in my world. So I put a rubber band on my wrist and have been working toward not complaining.

It’s hard.

The first day I realized how much I do complain. I’ve had a day here or there without complaining (or else I forgot to notice that I did) but I’m a ways from my 21 days in a row.

When you do this exercise, you notice how much other people complain. I’ve just not responded when someone’s spewing negativity and they usually stop.

Max even got in the game, and when he whines, he’ll usually say, “Oh! That was a complaint!” and switch his band.

I urge you to take this challenge with me. Read the book if you’re interested, or just put on a rubber band and stop complaining.

I swear I wrote a review on this book already. I’m really surprised I didn’t, since I keep thinking about it months after I read it. At any rate…

I thought Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert was some sort of key to better health, by the title. But then my best friend in the universe, Andrijana, whose book tastes run identical to mine, told me otherwise.

I have a strong belief that certain books come to us when we need them most. When I read this, I needed inspiration and a little adventure. And it made the decision to move to China a little easier.

The author’s going through a bad divorce and a bad rebound relationship. She decides to take a year off and travel to Italy, India, and Indonesia for some mental, spiritual, and physical rest. I love to travel, so of course this appealed to me.

She finds challenges, like surviving a silent retreat, that are completely relatable. But I also envied her, because she’s my age (ish) and did things I could never see myself being capable (traveling around the world for a year alone being one).

Still, I loved this book. In thinking about China, I have determined that I need to have some sort of spiritual goal to make it a better trip. I am Buddhist (did ya know?), so being where Buddhism sprang up, was repressed, then rose again, will be inspirational. It will provide a different spiritual context for my life. I would also like to start meditating. I suck at it, so I hope to find a meditation class. Other than that, I want to slow down (yes, honey, I do listen to you) and enjoy life more.

What about you? Did you read the book? What did you take from it?

I just finished reading this book by Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile. These mothers interviewed dozens of women to see what they really thought of motherhood. It was a relief to me to discover that I indeed am not alone in finding that “sometimes parenting sucks!”

I’m discovering a whole underground movement of books about the struggles moms really have, as well as a slew of blogs dealing with the same thing. I don’t feel so alone.

This book was great because it tackled the major issues (not enough time for ourselves, frustration with partner, getting impatient with the kids) and shared other women’s stories. It also gave some great advice. It made me laugh, it made me cry.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“I forgot to strap my newborn daughter in her car seat. When I got home, she just kind of fell out.”

“I have tremendous pressure from all ends. A lot of it is self-imposed. I feel like I’m trying to be perfect in so many ways: spend as much quality time with my kids as I can, be a supportive wife, still keep my career on target. The standard is very high. The majority of women in my community look perfect all the time, seem so fit and helathy. They act like decorating the house for Thanksfgiving is the best thing in their lives.”

“It’s OK to lose it. We all lose it.”

“I don’t know how to ask for help. I just know how to scream at my husband.”