How would you function more effectively in life if you followed the below advice?
“Instead of telling myself that frustrating conditions absolutely must not occur in my life, I’ll convince myself that these conditions must exist when they do exist, that I can cope with them, that I can try to change them, and that I can accept it though not like it, when I cannot for the present change them.” – Albert Ellis
My experience as a practicing psychologist is that what we call in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) low frustration tolerance is at the core of much of human emotional and behavioral disturbance. REBT stands pretty much alone among cognitive behavior therapy in emphasizing how humans largely disturb themselves when the conditions of life are difficult, frustrating, boring, slow, and complex. People will come up with millions of reasons why life should not be as frustrating as it is when it is that way. Few of these reasons ever help a person to cope with the frustrations they are facing. I remain firm when I hear this self-defeating argument from my patients and point out that although it is easy for fallible humans to whine and complain about the frustrations of life, this easy path rarely helps. So try to catch yourself whining about the frustrations and call yourself on this self-defeating habit. It will help you enormously.