Imagine Your Life is a Sitcom


Someone, I forget who (I KNOW WHO) was telling me about this miserable exchange she had at work or in her personal life (AT WORK) that left her extremely upset and bothered. I forget the precise details (NO I DON'T), but I mentioned to her that years ago I decided to apply a simple trick in these situations to make things a bit more bearable.

Next time that happens, just imagine you're in a sitcom.

What.

Seriously. Laugh track and everything. Just respond the way you would if you were the star of your own sitcom.

It wasn't just annoying. It was likely criminal.

Ha ha. Remember when Seinfeld went to jail? Ha ha.

Well, it sometimes works. I've successfully applied it to my own life a couple of times in the last year. That time when the dog emptied my office trash can and left shredded garbage all over my floor (BUT NOT THE OTHER 6 TIMES). That time on one of my dozen flights this year when the stewardess announced that there were people late for their connecting flights (INCLUDING ME) and could everyone just stay seated when we de-board and all 120 passengers immediately stood up and assumed a fighting pose. Ok, maybe those were the only two times and they didn't work.

I lost my temper earlier in the year over something, and the kids talked about it. My son said something along the lines of, It was good to see your old fire back. My daughter had a different response, along the lines of, The way you used to overreact caused me some trauma as a kid.

-record scratch-

Oof. We drove home one night after some get-together, and I wanted her to know she could talk about any of it. And the one thing I said to myself was don't defend, don't excuse, just listen. It was painful, just remembering when you were a kid and had no agency and just had to suffer your parents and I can't remember a sitcom analogue and was depressed for a long time that still hasn't ended and never will. - laughtrack -

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Someone posted one of those rage bait questions about travelers leaning back in their airplane seats, and as I was scanning all the usual responses (blame the airline for having reclining seats, be a decent human being, we're all just pawns in a game played by billionaires, maybe the person has a physical ailment, oh whatever, etc.), I was thinking maybe it is a sitcom, but poorly written and we're all bit parts.

Thank god I have one more post to wrap up 2024 on a high note.

laughtrack


Comments

A said…
I'm incorporating this simple trick starting...Now.