Chemistay and mustachecat, thank you for sharing. I appreciate your comments and respect your opinions. I feel there is one detail you may be overlooking. I never said "women are inherently whiny". One of my larger concerns with the Billfold site, it reads like a diary of complainers who do little to help themselves. Your mileage may differ. We can agree to disagree on the tones expressed in the site. Please do not confuse how I think the Billfold site is whiny
and female, and equate that with to
how I view the
entire female gender. To clarify in my earlier posts I equated whining, pity parties, and a lack of accountability with the actions described by the author in the original Billfold article and many other articles. And perhaps this is my own concern. When I read articles I want to
improve and learn from others how they overcame setbacks, rather than just complaints. Anyone can complain incessantly, but few people demonstrate an actual willingness to assume ownership by dealing with their hardships.
Wouldn't you agree for most online communities, we seek to share and more importantly LEARN from others who solved their concerns? And isn’t learning more than venting, the primary reason why we are all here on MMM? I am here to learn concrete successful strategies to improve. I do not know about other readers, but I appreciate MMM because he is direct, even forceful at times like a good coach pushing us past our comfort zone. We may never know what wise counsel MMM would share with the individual in the first Billfold article. But it should come as no surprise that MMM stares at challenges squarely in the face and punches it. And I think his positive badass can do attitude, is certainly worth emulating, don’t you?
Lastly, to expand on how our actions demonstrate accountability and how each of us create our reality, we don't need to look further than ourselves. I think it is fair to say even in own our lives, most of us know someone who is always complaining and negative but rarely, does anything to improve their situation, right? So how long would you
choose to allow their toxicity to
influence your life? This is an interesting question and as you ponder it perhaps MMM’s great optimism article
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/10/03/the-practical-benefits-of-outrageous-optimism/ , for people who practice negativity might help guide you. MMM wrote, “
Wake up, Dude! You’re doing more than just discussing your situation right now.. You’re creating your own reality!” Indeed whatever we chose to focus on becomes our reality. To further expand how each of us creates our reality with our attitudes, try reading strategies by leadership mentor John Maxwell. He teaches, "
if you don’t like your situation, take responsibility for your attitude. Change it. Your attitude is totally in your control.”
http://www.success.com/articles/1097--maxwell-making-attitude-your-greatest-asset