Goofiness - the X-factor we are leaving behind

Serious pug that forgot it's goofiness

The most unprofessional moment in my career was when I couldn't stop laughing in a meeting. I was so ashamed and embarrassed of myself,yet I couldn't stop myself from laughing. It was a silent and muffled laughter,but I was shaking as if I got a seizure. I tried to hide myself well behind another person, so that not everyone could see me. I hated my friend who was sitting beside me and who started it all. She was normal after 15 seconds of laughter, but it was me who was suffering for what seemed like an eternity. I tried to control my inner stupid-self to look at the kids in the meeting who were just out of college and yet being more professional than myself. But nothing works in such moments. You just keep laughing and laughing till you die or till someone kills you.

There were several moments when my friend and I would laugh at silly things. But now that I think of it, we haven't done that since so many days. We only talk about our problems, responsibilities and career - all serious talk - total adulting stuff. We look at people laughing crazily and look at each other that silently says "Kids!".

As we grow older, we get too involved in the daily routine that demands lot of attention. At the end of the day, we are too exhausted from all the things we have done and from all the things we need to do the next day. We take everything and everyone too seriously including ourselves. We either have a frown or a blank poker face staring into an invisible black hole that's made up of all the things that are due.

We have forgotten the art of playing innocent harmless pranks. When I was a kid, I remember lot of fun stuff with all the other kids in the family - drinking fruity and filling it with water, tripping each other, puncturing cycle tire to skip school, even spooking me out faking "ghost" stuff(It was "Aahat" days).

We have all seen movies like Amelie, Barfi, Happy Go Lucky, Life is beautiful and got that happy-goodey-feeling. What's common in all these movies? An adult who loves to have some fun-happy moments, who takes some time from their busy life to spread some silliness, who makes fun of themselves,who loves playing pranks and not taking things seriously, who can find joy even in dark situations. When we watch such movies, we think that we should live more. But the next day, we are again lost in our routine - we even think of those goofy heroes as unrealistic characters.

I am not saying - "be pretentious and plaster a fake smile on your face, leave all that adulting and be immature, flip a coin and decide your career, YOLO".
What I want to say is this - "life is short, we got to leave some moments(however embarrassing they can be) for our bedridden older-selves, we may die today - so you better live today, YOLO".

You got to take some things seriously - but not everything. Be the goofball you once were and trigger a chain reaction in all the people you meet - make them all goofy - let them laugh at themselves  and have their silly moments. Let's make this a movement like "Pay it forward" - you spread the goofiness to three people and when they are dying of laughter, be merciless and demand them to spread it to three more people.

Be goofy,y'all

~

PS: If you haven't watched the movies quoted in this post, you should! They are awesome.
Amelie is about a girl who finds joy in small things and goes on to spread it to other's lives.
Barfi is about a deaf mute guy and a mentally challenged girl who live their lives happily despite their disabilities.
Happy go lucky is about a woman who is..happy go lucky. She is a teacher and she takes things as un-seriously(light) as possible.
Life is beautiful is about a Jewish father and son who are imprisoned in Nazi camp. The father tells his son stories and make his life pleasant by hiding the fact that they are actually imprisoned.