Strangely, the Joker was serious when he asked that question in The Dark Knight. Lately, I have been thinking about whether being serious all the time adds unnecessary stress.
Serious about parenting because your child's future is dependent on it.
Serious about your relationships because you want them to last.
Serious about work because you have goals you need to achieve.
Serious at the gym because your workout is as important as your work.
All of this feels stressful because seriousness tends to suck the fun out of what could otherwise be joyful. I let fun vanish because at some point, I was convinced that I would achieve my goals for everything in my life only if I got serious about it. I increasingly suspect that if I figured out how to have more fun, I’d do more with greater intensity — and might hit my goals without noticing because I’d be too busy enjoying the work.
Instead of enjoying the process, I became obsessed with goals. Goals can make you unhappy in the moment because you sacrifice the present to make your future self happy. Research in psychology suggests that simply achieving goals doesn’t reliably create lasting happiness — people tend to return to their baseline once the excitement fades, a phenomenon sometimes called the arrival fallacy.
Goals aren’t the problem. Forgetting to enjoy the pursuit is. Showing up is easier when the process is fun — and consistency beats seriousness every time. Maybe the Joker understood something we don’t: life is hard enough without making everything heavier than it needs to be.