Monday, October 20, 2014

Life Is Short... So Laugh It Up

In life we can get worked up over a LOT of things.  Someone made decaf coffee at work?!  Those morons!  I missed that green light because of this slow driver in front of me?!  What a jerk!  No chicken nuggets at McDonald's?!!??!??!  Well.....

You get the point.  Some things that happen to us are absolutely infuriating.  But a lot of what upsets us is kind of ridiculous if you think about it (i.e. chicken nugget rampage).  I mean, I've seen friendships END over Facebook updates.  I've seen family turn on family as they war with their vague posts that everyone KNOWS who they're talking about.  All over what?  A disagreement?!  A different opinion?! 

There are a lot of reasons why all this happens but perhaps the two biggest reasons are:

1.  We equate disagreement with hate.  I get this a TON.  People thinking I must "hate/dislike/look down on" them all because I disagree with their viewpoint.  You have to realize that this is an absolutely preposterous way of thinking.  I understand that it can sometimes hurt, even deeply, when someone disagrees with a personal way of life.  But it IS completely possible to LOVE someone with a deep passionate love AND still not agree with every single view they have (even if some of them are extreme).  How many of us have a close friend, sibling, or even a parent that we of course love but also don't agree with some of their views?  We don't just write them off do we?  We don't hate them because they do something we think is wrong or the other way around do we?  So why do we always see differences as bad/terrible/bigotry/hate?  If every color in the universe was purple, it would make for a very uninteresting painting.

2.  We make mountains out of molehills.  These days it seems like we are kings of blowing things out of proportion.  Think about the whole decaf coffee thing...  We are SO quick to get angry at every little thing that goes wrong.  And I mean EVERY.  LITTLE.  THING.  Just think how many Facebook statuses you've "corrected" because that person is COMPLETELY WRONG.  We get so worked up over this stuff that....... (are you ready for this)........  DOES NOT MATTER!  So someone posts a story that's incorrect.  Who cares?  Someone says something you think is wrong.  Who cares?  Someone comments something rude.  Delete the comment because who cares?  (Most of the people who are rude to us online we barely know so... Really... Who cares?). 

I know, I know.  It's easier said than done.  But honestly life is way too short to worry about such silly things and be so serious all the time.  There are some many moments we'll encounter which will require our super intense seriousness...  so why sweat the little things?  How do we accomplish this?  If you were waiting to read some super, stupendously spiritual, mind blowing, life altering wisdom I don't think I have that for you.  I'm still trying to figure this stuff out too.  What I do have is simple but it works (at least for me).

First:  I recommend three little words:  LET IT GO (no I will not be linking some overrated Disney song).  How much stress could we save ourselves from if we just did these three little words?  The answer is a lot.  Why commit hours of your day fighting with that person in your head?  Why comment back and forth?  Why waste such energy on a fight when you could waste energy on this?  Just let it go. 

NOTE: Sometimes letting it go means you have to literally let a person go.  You might be thinking, "But isn't that the opposite of the goal here?  I thought we wanted relationships to continue healthily..."  Our goal is indeed to keep relationships intact BUT sometimes people are committed to being complete and utter joy-suckers.  No matter what you do they TRY and bring you down.  To those people I say unfriend, block, let it go, and move on with your life.  Again, life is short.

Second:  I recommend that you laugh!  Take as many breaks away from the seriousness of the world and laugh it up.  Read something funnyWatch something cute!  Stop and laugh! No, you're not fooling yourself and saying the hard things of life don't exist.  You're just taking a short break from them.  Our house is in desperate need of repair.  It has so many leaks when it rains.  Example: One of these rainy days I was quite ticked off about it leaking once more but my kids wanted to go outside and play in the rain.  So we went outside, ran around in the rain, splashed in puddles, and laughed.  Sometimes you just need to go play in the rain instead of focusing on your leaky roof.

Third:  Do charity.  Yes I mean that.  There is a "high" you get when you're able to help someone in need.  There's really nothing I can think of to compare it to.  It just feels good when someone says to you, "Hey, this thing you're doing means something to me!"  You may not feel like helping anyone but trust me it has a reward.

Remember: Life is too short to be so serious all the time.  So live it and laugh while you're at it.

1 comment:

  1. EXACTLY why I'm not on Facebook anymore. Talk about exhausting. Just following your advice to LET IT GO.

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