Anyone who has chatted with me on Discord for more than three days knows how much I like to rant.
I was recently faced with the question of whether it is healthy or not. The internet is indeed a vast source of info where I could go look up about this habit of mine. But experience suggests me the internet doesn't always do enough to keep me happy.
So, why do I rant?
If you are one of the tech persons on my DM, you've seen me talk at length about how bad XYZ piece of technology / software is. Often, it is the case that I myself have used, or use that certain technology! Ranting about things I am related with is an easy way for me to stay grounded and not become overly prideful. Elitism in the FOSS community is no new phenomenon. Being able to see what is wrong and what needs improvement is more important than living in an artificial bubble where you perceive everything to be right on your part.
The same idea gets reversed when its about me though. If you are one of my closer friends, you get to read my weird rants on people and events in my daily life. Just now I said its better to be wrong than incorrectly believe you are right. But its no new info for my friends that I often go lengths to rant on people who try to make me feel like I'm wrong.
Is criticism bad? Not at all. Because often people are not considerate when telling others their shortcomings and faults, the person on receiving end may go into a spiral of bad emotions and self confidence issues. "Am I not good enough?" "Should I have not acted that way?" Its probably true that you were wrong or you shouldn't have acted the way you did, but those criticising usually fail to communicate why you were wrong or how they expected you to act. Telepathy isn't real.
I am too picky on who gets to criticise me. By pretending that everyone is not worthy of criticising me, I have it easy cutting off the crap in my daily life. After all, if you see an eighty people daily, facing some sort of confrontation every third day isn't avoidable. By not giving importance to these people, I'm simply sidelining them when it comes to matters hogging my mind and taking up my time.
If I still find their thoughts hogging my mind, I just rant about them. "He talked to me for half a minute and thinks that is enough to judge my personlity? He doesn't know why I said no to his offer. He probably will never understand. Every one isn't a considerate fairy" It infuses a sense of correctness in me. No matter how incorrect this sense of correctness may be, it lets me focus on whats important. It lets me give time to those who are important.
Who gets to take my me-time and make me think? You know if you are one of them. Take your responsibility seriously :)
Of course, its imperative you don't let that fake sense of correctness take over your actions. Just like you want to be treated good - so do others. You have to get better. You have to be the person you wanted to be. You have to grow. And a little bit of evil goes a long way in removing the barriers from your growth journey.
Remembering one of my favorite Eminem tracks, "Beautiful"
But don't let 'em say you ain't beautiful
They can all get f**ked, just stay true to you
Its about being real, being what you are, following what you like and not letting the 7.7B unrelated people mess up your trajectory.