The people at home deserve updates about your life that include more than its frustrations.

Family far away builds their picture of your life out of whatever you report. If every call is a list of what went wrong, they end up worrying about a version of you that is more miserable than the real one, and they lose the small pleasures that make up most of your days. Venting is fine, but it should not be the whole record.

Next time you call, add one good ordinary thing before you get to the complaints. Mention the walk, the meal, the person who made you laugh. It takes a sentence and it changes what they carry after you hang up.