Taking my(your)self too damn seriously

I know I certainly do. It's easy for me -- it's my wheelhouse, even -- to take myself so damn seriously. Too damn seriously. A human life features experiences of so many different varieties, and a lot of them are mundane, silly, confusing, sloppy, or absurd. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was, "You've got to live life on different levels, Nate, you know?" (Thanks, Dad.) He told me that because I tend to default to deep and thoughtful. That's fine, because it's a big part of who I am. But I sometimes miss out on a lot of life -- that is, a lot of what's happening around me -- because I'm so immersed in my own seriousness that I can't step into, yeah, maybe a shallower way of being. I must have decided a long time ago -- pretty sure I did, actually -- that Shallow = Bad; Deep Thinking/Seriousness = Good. It's just not true, not as axiom, anyway. It's all about the context, the situation: some situations call for seriousness, and others call for silliness. Some situations call for humor, and thoughtlessness, and selfishness. And all of life calls for LIVING, which naturally entails making some damn mistakes.

So, right here and now, I'm reminding myself -- and I invite you to participate -- to take a step back from Serious Gulley, and just enjoy the damn ride. Enjoy the damn ride. Enjoy this absurd, hilarious ride. :)