Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously

Many people mistake taking something seriously for taking themselves too seriously.

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Photo by Robert Stemler on Unsplash

There is a simple way to suck all the fun and enjoyment out of your life. If you do this one thing, you are guaranteed to find everything less enjoyable, become disillusioned with life and become a bit of a d***. 

This magical thing that you should do, if everything I have just said sounds desirable, is to take yourself too seriously.

Many people mistake taking something seriously for taking themselves too seriously. In a bid to gain the respect of others, they try to pass themselves off as the benchmark for seriousness. They start to smile a bit less, walk a certain way and only interact with other people they deem to be serious

This change often happens subconsciously but results in a deadly arrogance manifesting in these people. When you take yourself too seriously you start to view yourself as above certain things and certain people.

You start to view some shops as too cheap for you to shop at. You view some people as beneath you and do everything you can to avoid being spotted talking to them. You start attending events and parties that serious people are expected to attend. And before you know it, you become an arrogant t***.

When you first start to take yourself too seriously, you get the false illusion that your life is becoming better. You start to be blinded by your perceived increase in status and your new ultra-serious pals, thinking you are happier than ever. But as time goes on, all these things start to lose their allure. You stop having fun at these events for serious people, you find it hard to be your true self among your serious friends, life starts to look grim and your morning coffee just doesn’t taste as good anymore. When your morning coffee stops tasting good, you know you have truly reached a new low.

Trying hard to be viewed as a serious person makes you less approachable. It makes you less fun to be around and unable to take a joke. We have all come across such people and I am sure we can agree they are a pain to be around. If you have unexpectedly realised that you are one of these faux-serious people, fear not. This random guy from the internet is going to tell you how to fix it. 

The first step is to remind yourself that you are not better than anyone (except people who drive like maniacs. We are all better than them). You bleed, just like everyone else. You sleep, just like everyone else. You s***,  just like everyone else (If you don’t then you probably need to see a doctor). My point is that no person is better than the next and believing that you are intrinsically more important than others is an undesirable trait to have. Just because you work at a multinational company, were born to a respected family or are a member of an exclusive club, does not mean that you are above other people.

Secondly, you need to stop surrounding yourself with people who take themselves too seriously. The truth is that we become similar to the people we are around the most. If you are always around snobby people who look down on others, you will start looking down on others. 

Snob = 1. Non-snob = 0. 

Snob + Non-snob = Snob.

If my sophisticated equation was too complex for your pea-sized brain to comprehend, here’s the simple version. If you want to stop taking yourself too seriously stop hanging around other people who take themselves too seriously. It is that simple. 

With that being said, I hope you now know how to not be an insufferable t***.

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