I had a conversation with someone the other day that was complaining about her lack of sleep.  She was not as productive as she wanted to be because she just couldn’t get the proper amount of rest.  I am a big believer in the power of sleep so I tried to dig in and help.

But it didn’t seem like she wanted help.  Every suggestion I made was “wrong.”

Drink some milk before bed…nope.

Read a book…don’t like to read.

Don’t take your phone to bed…don’t be silly.

And this went on until I said, “So you don’t WANT to sleep then.”  She of course protested.  My guess is we have all had this scenario play out.  We have a friend or family member that wants to complain about a situation, but they don’t want to do anything to actually fix it.

This is victim thinking and it drives me crazy.  If you really DO have a problem you want to solve, you will need to try something new.  The old way is not working.  It’s broken.  So when you immediately eliminate every suggestion, you eliminate the desire for others to help you. 

At that point you don’t want a solution…you want to complain. I guess there is a place for that, but I am not interested.