LOL
You can take back your power in life by "LOL'ing" at yourself. Seriously. Less doubt, more LOL...
Too long, didn’t read…
Take back your power in life by learning to laugh at yourself. Laugh at the absurdity of the expectations you have for yourself. Laugh at your overthinking. Laugh at the ridiculousness of what you’re afraid of. Laugh at the way you slip and fall. Laugh because it’s ridiculous to think you’re anything but flawed, anything but imperfect, anything but human.
Can you do me a quick favor (20 seconds)? Thank you!
I’m releasing my first artist album on Friday! It’s called “Caught Myself Smiling” and I can’t wait for you to listen to it.
*** Can you please do me a solid and pre-save the album on Spotify? I’m going to be doing a giveaway to folks who have pre-saved later this week :) Thank you so much!
How to take back your power.
In any situation you always have a choice and I think the most powerful choice you can make in life is to laugh at yourself.
When you learn to laugh at the absurdity of how hard you are on yourself you take back your power.
Let me explain why I believe this.
First and foremost, learning to laugh at yourself stops you from falling into a habit of self pity, guilting yourself and talking down to yourself.
It’s the ultimate big dick energy!
Laugh at your imperfections. Laugh at your mistakes, at your misjudgments, at your shortcomings, at the things you haven’t learned yet, at the ups and downs in your life.
When you learn to laugh at yourself, you take back your power.
You take it back from self pity, you take it back from fear of judgement and you take it back from indecision.
Whether you realize it or not, when you’re living your life and you can’t find the strength to just laugh at yourself and your circumstances… you are not in control. You have given it over to fear, anxiousness, embarrassment, FOMO, self consciousness... you name it.
But the moment you shift your mindset to one of learning to laugh at yourself, you take it back.
When you can laugh at your own limitations, you remember what it’s like to be human. And THAT is a freeing thing to realize! It frees you from all the pressure you put on yourself to be perfect, to never mess up and to have everything figured out today.
There's a quote from William Arthur Ward that says:
To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity.
That’s it!
We’re all far from perfect. We’re all far from having everything figured out. We all live with double standards, we can be hypocrites at times, we procrastinate, we disappoint ourselves and others, we fall behind, we fail, we strike out and everything in between.
If you’re able to laugh at yourself and you do it as a habit, you’ll find yourself no longer putting so much pressure on yourself to be perfect.
So I say laugh at who you are, what you do (and don’t do) and everything in between.
Do whatever it takes to laugh at yourself. Just try it. Force a laugh, a chuckle a smile and think about the absurdity of the perfection you expect from yourself.
It’s nonsense and you are free to just laugh at yourself.
It doesn't mean you’re accepting who you are right now and that you won’t get better.
You’re not giving up. Far from it. In the moment, you’re laughing at the human condition in order to save yourself from thinking you’re anything less or that you’re broken.
You’re laughing at yourself and remembering to not take life so seriously.
You’re laughing at yourself to kill fear.
You’re laughing at yourself to no longer be a victim of others judging you or laughing at you.
You’re laughing at yourself so you’re no longer so hard on where you are right now.
You’re laughing at what used to make you crawl up and do nothing.
You’re laughing at yourself to take back your power.
Self laugher snaps you of thinking you need to be perfect - both in what you do and what you think.
It gets you out of your head.
So I’d encourage you to try your best to just laugh.
Laugh at the absurdity of the expectations you have for yourself. Laugh at your overthinking. Laugh at the ridiculousness of what you’re afraid of. Laugh at the way you slip and fall.
Laugh not because it’s funny to f**k up, but laugh because it’s ridiculous to think you’d be any other way, anything but imperfect, anything but human.
Let’s go.
*** As always, I released a podcast on this today. You can listen here :)
You have a choice right now!
I posted this on Twitter yesterday but it’s great mind fuel for pushing yourself to laugh at yourself more often.
You have two options right now.
- Do you let your frustration use you?
- OR do YOU use your frustration?
Do you let that frustration turn you into a cynical, anxious frustrated person?
OR do you put it down, flip it and reverse it and use it to come out swinging?
Which are you choosing?
Personally I am ALL IN on coming out of this the most healthy, compassionate, creative and energized dude I can be.
Need some help deciding what to do? Shoot me a text :) 312-584-4002
Still doubting yourself?
I read this piece by Megan and I thought it related well to my article today and the strange times we’re in.
Don’t give up right now. Don’t give up on your ability to hold your head high, to laugh at yourself and to be hopeful. Here’s why:
The world needs you. It needs your laughter, your love, and maybe a bit of your anger, too.
You are not alone. There are people in this world that care about you, even if they don’t verbalize or show it all the time.
This too shall pass. Time passes quickly, and feelings can come and go just as easily as we breathe. Saying that there is a light at the end of the tunnel doesn’t negate the darkness that feels as if it’s swallowing you whole, it just means that you hear the words that you don’t have to stay there forever.
It’s okay to ask for help. Some people want to help you. Some people want to hold your hand and be the shoulder that you need to lean on. Some friends want to be the ear that listens to all the thoughts running through your head.
Resting is not giving up. Remember that just because you need to rest, or unplug, or relax for a moment doesn’t mean that you’re throwing in the towel in life.
Your small actions make a difference, even when it seems like the world is a dumpster fire and everything is wrong and awful. The world is too small and interconnected to go down the rabbit hole of saying that nothing you do matters—your small actions of goodness are the pebbles that cause ripples of meaningful change.
Good people exist. There are good people who want to help make this world better. There are people who look to pour love into the chasms of hate and work tirelessly to make communities joyous for all.
Look for the joy. It’s easy to focus on mounting bills, or world catastrophes, or heartbreak, or pain. But what would happen if you collected tiny moments of joy throughout your day? There will always be elements in life that will look to steal your joy, but if you stop for a minute, you’ll see that there are plenty of moments that will feed it, too.
My name is Case.
I believe in the power of perspective.
Text me! 312-584-4002
Check out my twice-weekly podcast New Mindset, Who Dis?
Holler at me on Instagram @case.kenny
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I live, write and podcast in Chicago, IL :)
Here’s to making power moves, being a carefree goofball, checking off your bucket list and living an unbothered life.