Dealing with frustrations
I am working on stopping talking shit.
It is clear that no real progress can be made if you don't control the shit inflow. Shit in, shit out, basically.
Insofar as we have to deal with humans, we must deal with nasty situations. The more humans, the more nastiness.
Limiting human interactions is a tempting strategy, the hypothesis is that if we have to deal with less human-related shit, life gets easier, right?. I don't think so. I spent most of my teens and early adulthood avoiding people, and life was equally frustrating, although in different ways; even introverts need humans around sometimes.
Maybe it is not a matter of removing many people from my life, but rather drawing clearer and more explicit boundaries. Remain open to all possibilities with people that are already in (or coming in) but don't allow them to bring whatever they want to this (whatever this is). That will inevitably drive people away (temporarily or even permanently), that would be the price to pay. If I succeed in doing so, I would have fewer frustrations to deal with and the people who stick around won't need to hear me talking too much shit.
Perhaps the root cause is the lack of boundaries and the symptom, the shit talking.
But even then, life itself is frustrating at times and one needs to find a healthy way to deal with it. Some situations require action, others demands to let go; wisdom is needed to tell the difference.
I already have some ideas for dealing with life's frustration without excess venting (I'm not using the phrase “talking shit” any more). This 2023 will be a year of changes, learning and experimentation.