Many people are tethered to the mindset that life is a serious thing and that every stressful situation should be dealt with as seriously as possible and done so with a worrisome mind. People love to stress out about the most miniscule things and they feel validated when stressing out about larger things. I know because I have struggled with this myself. However, what people fail to realize, is that whatever is happening is not going to change just because of how high the level of their stress is. The outcome will still be the same.
Over the course of my life I have dealt with some pretty crazy things that have stressed me out and upset me greatly. I've lost a whole side of my family, had to get a restraining order against a relative, and many other unfortunate things have occurred in my life. I've learned from these things that it is not so much the situations you're dealing with that determine the level of contentment in your life, but rather how you respond to these situations.
The more that you treat life as almost a huge joke, living in a carefree way and making sure to find time to laugh, the more content you will be. If you treat everything as a serious ordeal, you will be less likely to appreciate life. Humor can be found hiding in almost everything, from the way a cat is looking at you to how long someone is taking to get ready to go out for a night on the town (or to just go hiking). If you simply search for the humor in any situation, you'll not only be happier in general, but you'll be a much more amicable person as well.
The best moments that I can recall in my life are all moments full of laughter and hilarious jokes. I never regret any moment that I have laughed or made someone laugh. Growing up, my family had a picture that I always saw whenever I walked through the front door that said "The most wasted day of all is that on which you have not laughed." I could not say for certain, but I have a theory that I just read it so many times that it became engrained in my head and became a part of my identity as well. In complete honesty, I will be forever grateful for that sign that forced me to laugh through sneaking into my vision and taking over my brain like some sort of a robot invader.
There are so many hilarious things in life to be thankful for, much more than to be stressed out about. Even the little things that bring a smile to your face are more powerful than the biggest stressor in your life. No matter what you are going through, you just have to remember that your attitude will have more of an effect on your life than any situation.
