Memorial Day weekend is upon us. For most of us, this means a three day weekend, time with family, and trying to get the propane for your barbeque grill filled on a Sunday.

In other words, it’s the perfect recipe for a LOT of complaining.

As much as I usually always love my family time, I do notice that I can drift into unhelpful negativity when I’m around them for extended periods. This weekend, I’m going to do my best to avoid complaining and I hope you’ll join me. As a good evaluator, I would love to have a good sized data set for analysis!

So what should we try to eliminate? I humbly suggest the following:

• Most swearing. Especially in reaction to burning the hair off your knuckles because your dad hasn’t fixed the ignition on his gas grill.
• Criticism, mostly directed at my brother in law.
• Negative feedback when not followed by a positive suggestion. Example: “Plaid shorts and a stripped t-shirt? That’s horrible.” Possible correction: “Those shorts are very bold. Perhaps a solid colored shirt would work better.”
• Gossip. Everyone knows your cousin is gaining weight. No need to speak of it.

Does this sound possible? If you give it a try, please tell everyone how it went in the comments.