Anyone else feel that some people take life too seriously?

[Hoppimike]

Like... we only live once. And I see the point of this experience is to relax and enjoy it, not to worry about this or obsess about that.

I mean, of course there are things I care about in this world, but I feel like most people take life more seriously than I do.

In the words of Oscar Wilde (slightly paraphrased, but anyway!) - Life is too important to be taken seriously

Peace out, you cool dudes, you!

[Haalyle]

I've met some people who take life too seriously and I never really mix with them, so I stick to my own group of friends and have a good laugh.

Like as you said, we only live once. We may as well live it.

[kamifox1]

Yep, I agree, life should be enjoyed but it's pretty hard to do that in the modern day with bills, judgements left, right and center, work and general put downs of assorted types. It's just not that simple, sadly.

[Nepenthe]

This thread is pretty damn vague. I mean, if you're talking in the sense that adults seem to shy away from things that seem frivolous or childish to preserve a self-image of maturity then yes perhaps, although if anything now's the best time to be a self-professed nerd anyway due to mainstream entertainment swinging that way. But if you're talking about general work, relationships, and stuff, then I mean, not really. We're all trying to navigate the ills of the last recession and new social habits without completely going under or insane.

[JezMM]

Anyone who thinks it is easy to simply "not" worry or obsess over things that an individual has deemed worthy of worrying or obsessing over in life probably doesn't have anything to worry or obsess over.

 

Like it's so context dependant that it's not really helpful as a catch-all life philosophy.  Like I'm pretty sure most people don't sweat the small stuff whenever they can.  Those who are completely unable to not sweat the small stuff?  Well they may very well have some underlying mental health problems that prevent them from doing so, meaning they probably DO have something in life to be worried about albeit indirectly.

 

So... yeah.  Agreed with Nepenthe that this is a very vague thing to complain about.  I mean, what's the cut-off point on a philosophy like this, since I doubt you'd say it to someone living in poverty or dealing with serious health complications.  Sorry to rain on your parade and practically serve as an example of what you're complaining about but... that's life!

[McGroose]

To an extent, a lot of people were raised to take life seriously, that's the sad part. Severe discouragement of failure and the desire to be as successful as one's peers can do that. Hell, I even had a teacher that would encourage students to worry whenever they were doing poorly on something. Let me tell you something, It's not good to worry about anything. PERIOD. It's good to be aware of and to calculate ways to get through a situation, but worrying clogs the mind with bullshit that just interferes with problem solving. The same goes for anxiety and depression as well. That doesn't mean that they can just shove their feelings aside. Many people were raised with a societal standard and they are hellbent on maintaining it. Emotional effects like stress and anxiety accompany this.

Sometimes I wish I were a Buddhist monk living in the Himalayas. They don't have to deal with any of this because they know how to work their mind around it. Meditation and critical thinking have helped me to take the world less seriously and to just take life as it goes, but it's getting harder and harder every day to do that because of the types of societies we live in. College students arguably have it the worst due to their debts, struggles to maintain jobs with schoolwork and starting to really understand how the world works. For someone who takes life terribly seriously and is struggling to make ends meet, listening to a few cheerful songs now and then won't increase their credit score, take them out of the thousands of dollars of debt they are in or bring back deceased or far away loved ones and friends.

Some people are just naturally numb to worries, anxieties and stress. I'd love to know how they work.

Edited October 25, 2015 by McGroose

[CF3635]

I agree! People in my school has treated me seriously, even though I have done nothing to them. Yes, people should enjoy themselves on earth. However, if a person is speaking to you angrily, he might be right. I had the same feeling when this happened to me.

 

[Salamander]

Like... we only live once.

This is precisely the reason why most people take life seriously.  You die and that's it.  This is not small potatoes.

It's also naive to neglect the fact that, for the greater part of humanity, life is hard and unforgiving, not even necessarily because of the actions of other people (though often that is the case) but because the world is hard and unforgiving.  Reality is hard and unforgiving.  And even for those who have the luxury or living a life which is easy and comfortable, the fact that they have it so good while others live a hard and unforgiving life is often to them intolerable and morally unacceptable.

But if you are confident that you will never suffer, and are unconcerned by the suffering of others, then by all means, continue to treat life as cheap.

[Regen]

I would say that because we only live once we should take life seriously.