Five ways to stop taking life so seriously

When was the last time you had an honest , hearty laugh? One of the most important things you can do to relax is to cut out everything that doesn't make you happy. Think about it - do any of these habits or places make you smile?

-Spending hours scrolling through social media, looking at everyone else's perfect lives and comparing yourself to them.

-Taking your work way too seriously.

-Neglecting your physical health by not exercising and eating poorly.

-Feeling sorry for yourself over every little thing and never living in the moment.

-Spending all day on your phone, video games or computer screens instead of chatting with other people in person.

-Worrying about the future.

-Being stressed, rushed and uptight all the time.

-Having a negative attitude towards yourself and everyone around you, making you impossible to be around.

-Taking on too much responsibility or guilt, instead of being grateful for what you have.

-Undermining your own self worth by constantly telling yourself negative things, which is basically the same as negative thinking.

There are only two ways to live today: You can live as if nothing is a gift. You can live as if nothing is impossible. You can live as if everything is possible - here are two steps that will show you how to do it.

The first step:

Stop taking life so seriously. Life is not that serious. You will not live forever; we are born, we live and we die and "that's it." Do you really think about death every day? I don't! I like to live in the moment and be happy with whatever that moment brings, which will most likely be totally different from what you expect or dream of. We only live once; why not make the best of it?

The second step:

Accept that everything happens for a reason. Many people think that there is no rhyme or reason to anything, but actually everything happens because of a cause and effect. Ask yourself, why do you believe things happen the way they do? Let's say you were fired from your job, was it because you didn't work hard enough? Or was the company going through organizational changes and restructuring? Did someone just not like you? Did you just not fit into the team dynamic anymore? The reality is that very few people are actually fired for no reason at all.