Seriously?

"You cannot be serious!"

Though entertaining when directed by a very pissed-off John McEnroe at misfortunate chair umpires, the above line also strikes me as a sage piece of advice. If I had anything close to an overarching view of life, it would involve the observation that we all tend to take ourselves and our respective circumstances far too seriously. This can manifest itself any number of ways: focusing too intently on school/work, overly philosophical ruminations (perhaps this is one of them; I'm as hypocritical as the next guy), petty arguments that (d)evolve into full-blown feuds, dreaming/scheming for the future or brooding about the past at the expense of the present, etc. (of course by "etc." I mean, "I can't think of anything else at the moment, fill in the blanks yourself.")

Anything actually worth taking seriously seems to work out just as well, if not better, when you loosen the screws a bit and keep a sense of humor about it. From personal experience that approach worked brilliantly for school. I did my worst work and was least able to focus whenever I convinced myself that I really cared about how I did on a test or project (witness my piece-of-shit History IA). Different strokes and all that jazz certainly applies, but I saw some folks around the time of IB testing stressing out to a degree that could not have been healthy or conducive to good work. Someone else is always around to make a big deal about anything under the sun, why do that to yourself?

I couldn't say whether this applies to relationships or not since I've never been involved. I am reminded however, of that .38 Special song "Hold on Loosely": "It's so damn easy, when your feelings are such, to overprotect her, to love her too much..." "Just hold on loosely, but don't let go. If you cling too tightly, you're gonna lose control." I'm not much into destiny (The Future is Unwritten, ftw), but things often have a way of working themselves out provided that you don't try to force them. It's a matter of appreciating what you have but also accepting that you may not have as much control over the situation as you'd like. A bit of perspective/humour/ever-so-mild detachment can help absorb the inevitable setbacks and disappointments.

Hopefully this didn't come off as too preachy; it's as much a reminder to myself as anything else. If anyone else gets something out of it - bonus.