100 Ways To Motivate Yourself, Third Edition

76. Lighten things up

Sunlight and laughter. That’s what cures most fears and worries. Terrifying problems are better solved in the light than in the dark. And there are many ways to bring them into the light.

Pick a frightening problem. Then do the following: talk about it with someone, draw an illustrated map of it on a huge piece of paper, make “Top 10” lists about the problem, tell yourself some jokes about the problem, sing about the problem, and, finally, dance a dance that expresses the problem.

If you do all these things, I promise you that your problem will seem a lot funnier, and less frightening, than it once did. It is impossible to laugh deeply and be frightened at the same time.

Humor is the highest form of creativity. It’s the ...