Learning to Take Yourself a Little Less Seriously

I sometimes come across articles that don’t offer big answers, but gently bring me back to something essential: the way we speak to ourselves inside. This one, written by a Harvard psychologist, struck me for a simple reason: it shows how humor, especially the kind we turn toward ourselves, can become a small space to breathe rather than a way to shrink.

We often think self-deprecating humor means laughing at ourselves, but in its healthiest version, it’s not about putting ourselves down. It’s about loosening the grip a little. Taking the situation less seriously. Letting a bit of softness slip in where we would normally judge ourselves without mercy.

When I read this, I can’t help thinking that it might be one of the simplest forms of self-love: recognizing our limits without getting trapped in them. Seeing ourselves as we are, with our little missteps, our awkwardness, our tendency to take things too seriously, and accepting that none of it is a big deal.

Humor can become a kind of inner safety signal. A way of saying:

“I’m not perfect, but I’m human, and that’s enough for today.”

When it lightens, it helps. When it warms, it connects.

Of course, there’s the other version, the one that stings a little too much. The lines we throw out as a joke but that, if we listen closely, come from a wounded place. The ones that sound like humor but leave a bitter taste. Those are often the moments when we realize we were reaching for sympathy rather than lightness.

And that’s where the article insists: the difference is felt in the body. Does this little joke actually make me smile… or does it leave a weight behind? Do I feel more open after saying it… or a bit more closed off?

I like this way of looking at things. Not as a self-help technique, but as a way to be more honest with ourselves. To stop hardening. To allow a bit more tenderness in the way we see who we are.

Taking life less seriously doesn’t mean taking nothing seriously. It means letting a little more breath into the relationship we have with ourselves. And sometimes, that small shift already changes a lot.