I need to lighten up? Please elaborate :icon_neutral:
How to Lighten Up
Are you taking life too seriously all the time? Perhaps your natural instinct is to answer everything with a very serious tone and to point out the failings of all those around who and to press your politically correct views on others no matter whether it is a birthday, wedding or a work meeting - you just have to mar the occasion by reminding everyone of how much more serious you are, how frivolous and incorrect they are being and well, does that make you feel like a really good person inside? No? Didn't think so...
Steps
Stop assuming you know everything. Nobody knows everything, not even in their own fields of specialization. As soon as you assume you know everything, you shut down to other ideas and you begin to sound arrogant, know-it-all and uncaring about others' feelings. It is easy to stop this cycle - if you stop assuming people want you to know everything, you will stop convincing yourself that you do, or at least should.
Stop exaggerating. Exaggerating about your abilities, qualifications, knowledge, hobbies etc. is soon tiresome to those around you and eventually people start to see through the parts that are real and the grandiose statements. In creating a larger-than-life real you, you get caught up heavily in your own self-importance and you lose a sense of reality. And when you lose a sense of reality and breathe out importance, you've just become serious beyond repair.
Let go of things. It's OK to lose an argument; it's OK to make mistakes. What matters is learning from the loss and failure of life; nobody is perfect and sooner or later, everyone who pretends otherwise is sorely tripped up. Better to be humble and humorous about your journey through life than to be the drama queen of Seriousville. People are much more forgiving of errors in those who who are able to laugh at themselves and who are genuinely involved in the welfare of all. When you are too serious, the only person you are really focused upon is - you.
Laugh. If this sounds nonsensical, you need a good laugh more than anyone. When was the last time you laughed? Go and rent a good comedy, or visit a theater show featuring an hilarious act. Join a belly-laughing group. Just start cracking that serious pose and let some of the laugh lines win through for a change.
Delegate. Overly serious people often think of themselves as indispensable and don't let others take on "their" work. This is a huge danger sign - if you can't let other people assist you or take on some of your workload, whether it be in the home, in the workplace, on the farm or at school, you are going to find the hardship grows, the expectations become mammoth and you build yourself a gilded cage from which you feel you can never escape. Give tasks, activities to others; share your knowledge with others and let others learn from you rather than hogging everything to yourself. This will not only help you to engage with others but it will release you somewhat and help you to lighten up.
Stop being so rules focused. Rules are there for a purpose, namely, to help direct and guide us. Rules at work, in collaborative situations, in communities and in many other contexts are there to provide sensible and common sense parameters. When the rules become the means by which you relate to others, however, and cause you to become rigid, fixed and unbending, then you are stuck in Seriousville again. And those who see the value of working around rules or updating will avoid you like the plague because you are such a stickler. Reverse your reliance on the rules and lighten up.
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