Life is short, why waste it whinging about what we don’t have

DO you know what I hate? I hate whingers. Now that may seem a bit hypocritical to some of you seeing as I spend a lot of time giving out in this very newspaper, but that’s what I’m paid to do.

My professional ranting is always genuine but sometimes exaggerated for journalistic effect. When I really let rip it’s usually in the privacy of my own home and with the use of rather a lot of expletives.

What I’m talking about is people with chips on both shoulders who spend their whole time ranting about how they feel badly done by and how everyone is conspiring against them. The kind of people who drain the positivity out of the room, leaving behind a cloud of negativity in their wake.

These are the same people who spend hours on barstools giving out about every single politician in Government and then don’t bother their arses to vote in an election. They hated Enda Kenny and now they can’t abide Leo Varadkar and his toothy middle class smile.

According to the moaners, Bertie Ahern was a snake, Charlie Haughey a gangster and let’s not even go there with Brian Cowen. But they can’t be bothered to affect change by exercising their franchise.

They’d much rather sit back and pontificate on an outcome they had nothing to do with.

Then there’s the serial protesters who don’t really care what they’re protesting about – water charges, the 8th Amendment, hospital services, the lack of funding to aid economic recovery, give them a placard and off they go.

Yes I do think some of these issues are really important but does standing on a street waving banners and shouting at passersby really achieve anything? I think it intimidates ordinary people and winds up the people the protestors are trying to communicate with.

As a nation, we do love a good ‘oul moan, whether it be about the weather, the price of a pint or the government. Whinging appears to be our default setting. British people have the stiff upper lip, our collective bottom one sticks out in a huff!

I have a friend who, whenever I meet her and ask how she is, starts the conversation off with a sigh and then launches into a litany of what’s going wrong in her life. She has a good job, a lovely family, but the hairdresser fecked up the colour of her hair and she doesn’t think she’s appreciated enough by her boss. I want to scream ‘get over it’ and slap her around the chops!

Today is Monday. I hate Mondays but today I have plastered a smile on my face. And you know what? I already feel better. Negativity breeds negativity. It’s time to find the silver lining and be grateful.

And the moral of today’s lecture: Life is short, why waste it whinging about what we don’t have and enjoy what we do.

AS A NATION, WE DO LOVE A GOOD ‘OUL MOAN, WHETHER IT BE ABOUT THE WEATHER, THE PRICE OF A PINT OR THE GOVERNMENT