The Grumble Blankie

Recently, I’ve realized a nasty habit:  I complain a lot.  You might be surprised at this.  But if you heard the tape that runs in my head some days, or if you asked my husband…you’d hear an awful lot of grumbling.  Laundry, dishes, dust, work, busyness, crazy drivers, not enough of this, too much of that, etc.  The list goes on and on. A couple of weeks ago I was freshly awakened to this wearisome tape.  Funny, how you also realize… that you’ve realized this about yourself before! Yeesh!

My thoughts went something like this:  Ugh! There it is again! Complain, complain, complain! I’m sick of hearing myself complain! And now I’m even complaining that I’m a complainer! How will I be rid of this? It seems like it’s part of who I am…  But surely not.  Perhaps it’s not woven into the fabric of my being…perhaps it’s like a blankie I keep carrying around with me, the way a too old child carries around his/her blankie from infanthood.  Well, if that’s the case…I can throw away the grumble blankie!!  And so I did!

It felt great! To visually and purposefully dump that nasty, sucked-on-forever blanket I’d been nursing.  But I felt I really ought to put something in its place…get rid of something yucky and replace it with something positive.  And this image came to mind.  I’ll trade my grumble blankie for a drawing pen!  Drawing enables me to refocus the grumbling to embracing the life that I have.  Yes. and Yes.

I went to sleep that night content with this little drawing and with the thought of that grumble blankie in the trash can.  But the next morning, I swear that blankie must’ve crawled out of the trash can and inched its way up to my room as I slept.  Oi! Darned if I didn’t start off…”ugh..it’s too early!…i didn’t get much sleep…how can anybody be expected to function on 5 hours of sleep????? grumble, grumble, grumble.”

And so, I’m finding I have to throw that darn blankie away every morning.  Truth be told, I have to do it several times a day!  Good Grief.  But at least it drives me to pick up my pen and draw…draw the life that I am really truly thankful for…

…even if I grumble about it. 🙂

0 thoughts on “The Grumble Blankie

  1. Mary Walker says:

    Sounds like something that could benefit from a loosely followed 12 step program. As with any habit it takes time but recognition is a plus. I believe you can do it.

    • jenpedwards says:

      Indeed, Mary! Maybe like the 12 mini lessons I’m offering every Friday…hmmmm…I should so take my own medicine, right?

  2. Alex Tan says:

    Yeah…. I do complain a lot too, but usually I forget about it after a nap, that’s my cure for all problems…naps ^^
    Love the drawing, and love that little kitty who wanted to play

  3. thepinkrachael says:

    Oh, I totally get this one! I hear myself moaning all the time too…not figured out how to kick it though! (And as a truly sarcastic Brit the horrors of turning into a 24/7 ball of cheer do worry me a bit too…!) Love the sketch!x

    • jenpedwards says:

      I DO know what you’re talking about! I ran into a friend last night who began to tell me how she was doing lately, describing being sick and other life-full stuff. She then apologized because she had seen my post. I told her she wasn’t complaining, just telling it like it is! We gotta keep it real, right? And if there’s a bit of sarcasm thrown in with it, all the better, I say! My brand of grumbling is just the inane, murmuring, muttering kind about just “stuff”. When it weighs me down, I gotta get rid of it!! Thanks for visiting, Rachael!

  4. freebirdsings says:

    But, maybe you ARE tired! Five hours of sleep and waking every night for Maddie will take a toll. If you can keep up the mothering, the teaching, the art, the blogging and everything else you do, a few slipping out complaints is small change. Yes a habit to work on (I saw myself in that first paragraph or so) but I think your actions if not all your words are more positive than not. Keep tossing the blankie but don’t be too hard on yourself!

  5. Denise says:

    I too have a full quilt bed set made of grumble.. And love your solution of fixing it. A Canadian view of throwing in the towel,. In this case the blankie.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *