Being an adult can be serious business can’t it. For most of us there’s a job to hold down, bills to pay, a home to look after and family members to care for. In addition, we all face life challenges which can be related to health, worries about the people we care about, career setbacks, loss of loved ones, financial concerns or other. With all of this it’s easy for us to take our adult lives a bit too seriously and to lose the habit of laughter.
The slightly irreverent words at the heading of the article “don’t take life so seriously, you’ll never get out of it alive” are from Elbert Hubbard, an American writer and artist who lived at the turn of the 20th century. For many years this has been one of my favourite of all quotes because it reminds me of 2 things:
First, it reminds me that life is not forever……
We all know that life is finite but our actions don’t always match this. Trying to keep this reality at front of mind rather than in the background helps me make sure that I make the most of each day. For me this involves making a useful contribution, doing my best, making efforts to develop myself, treating others with kindness and creating time for the things I enjoy.
Second, this quote reminds me to laugh……
Every day, in every situation, I try to find the humour. Part of this is laughing at myself. For example, recently in the office I heard a disconcerting buzzing sound coming from a wall and decided to get it checked in case the noise was an indicator of an electrical fault. When the electrician examined the problem he discovered that the source of the noise was not faulty wiring in the wall but a very harmless calculator in a storage cabinet with one of its buttons half pressed in. This was a little on the embarrassing side but the laugh it gave me (and a few of my colleagues) was priceless.
Of course, this doesn’t mean we should be flippant about life or become fearful of our own mortality. Like everything, it’s very much a case of balance, but based on my observations most of us could do with dialling up the laughter a bit and dialling back the seriousness.
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If you would like to see your life in a lighter, less serious way some coaching sessions with Elephant Capability can very likely help. Feel free to call 0400917167 or email using the contact form on this website.
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