What could possibly be a struggle when you’re laid-back? You must never get stressed out, right?
These are a couple of common misconceptions tied with having a laid-back persona. Yep, I’m here to tell you that being the laid-back friend is both a blessing and a curse…
You’re generous to a fault
Being laid-back generally means that you’re ‘chill’ about pretty much everything. You don’t sweat the small stuff. You need to borrow money? Sure! Pay me back whenever. You’re feeling stressed and want me to help you out with some work? I mean, I have a lot of my own stuff to do, but sure. I like to help people out. When you make a point of helping people out all the time, it becomes habit to accept things at face value and not realise that you’re being used. I’m not saying that people are purposely taking advantage but making it a point to say ‘no’ every once in a while will swing things into balance a bit.
People lose their shit when you have an opinion
Having an opinion on something when you have such a laid-back nature is so out of character to everyone else. It’s not that you don’t have opinions; it’s just that you usually don’t voice them so as to avoid any conflict. Or, simply, the topic at hand just isn’t worthy of the time it takes to consider an opinion. I cannot count the times I’ve voiced mine and the reaction is literal silence. It kinda makes you wish you didn’t bother!
Losing friends
As the years have gone by, I’ve lost contact with a couple friends here and there. I used to wholeheartedly blame myself. My friends have always found it frustrating that I can just ‘drop off the map’. There are periods of days and weeks where I won’t so much as even text back unless it’s important. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that I need alone time to recharge my batteries. Plus, I’m pretty much always sleeping. As I’ve gotten older, though, I’m not so hard on myself for it. I’m still friends with people I’ve known since I was a kid, who appreciate that I need my space and they’re the kind of people I want around.
Problems often go unresolved
No matter how much you rage about something in the moment, it doesn’t take long for the anger to fizzle out. It takes a lot of talking yourself up to actually confront people so most of the time its way easier to just brush it off. Now, I know what you’re thinking. It doesn’t sound like much of a struggle, does it? That’s because it’s not. At least it’s not until the thing that got you in a fit of anger that one time keeps happening because you didn’t act on it. See the problem? It’s a vicious cycle.
You find drama unbearable
Ever find yourself rolling your eyes way more than the average person? Do you literally cringe when people are causing a scene or making a big something out of nothing? Or let out a huge sigh and have to count to three when people overreact over the dumbest things? I feel you, boo. Reality TV shows aren’t even a thing in my world so you can only imagine how I feel about unnecessary drama in my personal life. I say ‘chill’ so much so that even my mum has adopted the phrase. This can make it hard for me to relate to people a lot of the time and it was an even harder burden to bear in school. I used to literally wish I cared about drama and always felt different because I didn’t. Having such a relaxed demeanour isn’t always so relaxing, believe it or not.
Ultimately, being laid-back gives you the chance to offer people a perspective on things they often wouldn’t see. Besides, there’s far too many things in life to be stressed out about than to worry about the menial things. Embrace the easy-going way of life, peeps!
Images via Instagram @elle.summer.d / @danimccarron / @georgia_thess / @thecactuscafe | 20th Century Fox Television / Outerbanks Entertainment
