Several things in life matter a whole lot less than we think they do. Now, I know that is a bold claim, but trust me. Life becomes so much more fun.
It is so important to laugh. Laugh at yourself. Laugh at awkward conversations. Laugh at yourself in awkward conversations. Laughter is beautiful, and it is truly one of my favorite things.
When I grow old and eventually die, I will die with the biggest, most accentuated smile wrinkles, and I am so excited to choose to live a life full of joy and whimsy.
It has taken a lot of soul searching to get me here though.
In high school, I thought I could look back at myself as a more mature, more intelligent person in any situation. I thought I brought a level of reasoning to the table as a devil’s advocate.
Playing the devil’s advocate in situations where a lot of thought is needed is fine. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the little things. Being argumentative for the sake of trying to change someone’s positive outlook or for status is unbelievably inefficient and can be emotionally exhausting.
I was once somebody that talked bad about myself all the time. My time in high school was an unhealthy cycle of needless attention-seeking and validation. Now, when I found this validation, I quickly dismissed it because that meant I got even more validation.
Then I learned to accept the compliment. It helps no one to write of the courage it takes to speak positively of someone. Cut yourself some slack, give yourself some confidence. So what if you’re imperfect?
Use these words as motivation to become better, but don’t sap your own happiness. Remember why you started doing it. Literally just enjoy the things you choose to do.
That’s the joy of it all. We all are imperfect. We are all trying to be better, stronger, smarter, more disciplined. And sometimes, we fall short.
Whether this means you’re just a novice painter, a subpar writer, an okay student or a C-tier athlete in the “grand scheme of things,” a person who thinks highly enough of you to voice chose to praise your work. Comparison is the thief of joy, especially on social media.
Even in your mistakes, laugh at them. It becomes so much more fun when you just laugh for the sake of laughing.
It’s a cliche, but laughter is considered the best medicine.
It’s everyone’s first shot at life. Which kind of sucks because we are all terrible at it. Navigating everything can be such a headache, and worrying about past mistakes is such a waste of time.
So forgive yourself, and forgive others. It’s one thing to laugh at your mistakes and a completely separate endeavor to forgive yourself for them.
“The best things in life don’t come easy, but those things are the ones worth the sacrifice,” Adriana Locke.
We’ve been all placed in a flawed system, and we can’t just blame one thing, person, or corporate entity.
Not everybody is out to get you. Not everybody wants to exploit you, not even gigantic companies that want nothing more than to seep into every moment of your life.
We’ve been all placed in a flawed system, and we can’t just blame one thing, person, or corporate entity.
“Don’t attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence,” Ronald Hanlon.
We are all trying. And we are going to keep trying. And that’s why you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously.
