Learn to Laugh

I've talked before about how laughter is a way of getting over your problems (for me). By that, I mean, laughing at the things you do that make you feel stupid. If you're on a date and you accidentally burp, you might think, "Oh man! How could I do that?" and become ashamed and embarassed. But what good does that realllllly do you? Think about it. Why beat yourself up about the little things?

Which leads me to my thinking out loud question, why as humans do we put so much pressure on ourselves to be EVERYTHING? I can't be that lady who never burps all the time, for example. Since moving out on my own, getting a full time job, and learning how to handle my own finances it didn't take long for me to feel as though I had to be everything. I had to be the girl who had money, to be the girl that had friends, to be the girl that looked nice 24/7, or to be the girl that was dating. I had to be perfect.

Often times during my move I would watch Sex and the City and compare my life. Asking myself ridiculous questions, "Why can't I go out on a work night and meet guys? Why don't I have any friends here yet? Why don't I have furniture for my apartment?" (FYI: never compare your life to a TV show, just don't do it.) Anyways, IT HAD BEEN LIKE A MONTH SINCE MY MOVE! I was already putting so much pressure to be all that I could be that I wasn't even appreciating my accomplishments. It took friends and family to put this in perspective for me. Instead of looking at what I didn't have yet..I needed to look at what I had gained: a job, an apartment, money, and even relative healthiness.

If we continue to put constant pressure on ourselves, how are we really supposed to move forward? Because you can't move forward if you're too busy harping on yourself about what went wrong in the first place. Which brings me back to my first paragraph about learning to laugh at what's going wrong. I'm not saying that you should never be sad because that's a whole different set of problems that can happen if you do not let yourself feel emotions. What I'm saying is don't sweat the small stuff. Don't borrow trouble. Once I was able to stop and look around and appreciate, I was able to laugh at how ridiculous these pressures were.

Give yourself a break. If you mess something up, try to laugh at it and MOVE ON. I guess the moral of the story is, if you burp on a date - don't be mad at yourself for weeks or embarassed. Laugh at yourself. Because if you learn to laugh at yourself, I promise your attitude will improve and you'll be happier in your personal life. Remember this the next time you screw up. It's almost like a process of healing. Learn from your mistakes, laugh at your mistakes, and then move on from your mistakes.

xo