As Elbert Hubbard famously said, “Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive." But it’s easy to forget those wise words when life becomes overwhelming. There’s just so much for adults to juggle, and for some reason, life seems to be progressively getting harder and harder every year.
The cost of living is on the rise, climate change is becoming dire, and billionaires can’t be bothered to lift a finger to help anyone but themselves. But it really is important not to lose hope. Life is worth living, and if there’s anything that can make it even more enjoyable, it's having a laugh! So we hope that you can sit back, relax, and chuckle at the images on this list. You deserve at least a few minutes of peace.
Regardless of how chaotic your life is today, we encourage you to take a few deep breaths and focus on the bright side for a moment. Perhaps it’s a beautiful sunny day, and you saw a stunning butterfly on your way to the office this morning. Or maybe you have plans with your best friend this weekend that you’ve been looking forward to for months.
The truth is that humans tend to take things more seriously than we have to. Your boss might stress you out about a deadline that you’ll have no problem meeting. Or your dad might make you feel guilty about that car accident that you accidentally got into. But worrying won’t get you anywhere. And if you need some help calming those anxious thoughts, HelpGuide has some advice.
If you consider yourself to be a worrywart, you might have noticed some negative effects of being so anxious all the time. It’s common to experience restlessness, fatigue, sleeplessness, and muscle pain or tension if you’ve been caught in a loop of worrying excessively. You might also start to self-medicate or notice unintentional changes in your social life.
To get this under control, HelpGuide recommends creating a daily “worry” period. You can have a short amount of time, for example, 20 minutes, each day when you’re allowed to think about everything that’s making you nervous. You can write down your anxieties and let them flow freely. But once the time is up, that’s it. You have to let it go and move throughout your day worry-free.
Another great way to reduce your daily worries is by deciding to stop taking life too seriously. I know, it’s much easier said than done. But making a choice to stop sweating the small stuff can be life-changing. And PsychCentral notes that the first step in this journey should be identifying your negative thinking patterns. Then ask yourself if those things will really matter later or if there’s actually anything you can do about them. The majority of the time, the things that we worry about are out of our control.
The next step in taking life a little less seriously is consciously creating opportunities to laugh. Once you become an adult, you might not be surrounded by as much humor as you were in your youth. But that doesn’t make laughter any less important. Seeking out hilarious content online, such as the screenshots featured here, can be a great way to ensure that you never go a day without giggling.
Gill Harrop, PhD, also recommends looking for laughter in everyday experiences. You might be surprised how hilarious your life actually is if you start looking for laughs. You might have an amusing colleague whom you can’t help but giggle with, or you might see a hilarious dog in the park while you’re on a run. Once we open up our eyes to all of the humor that’s hiding in everyday life, we can’t stop noticing it!
