Laid back, easy going people - tell me your secret

My natural instinct is still to be intense rather than laid back, but I have got better at not sweating the small stuff.

At the same time, the most easy going and flexible people I know are very often late for appointments, and I hate being late, so I don't want to become that easy going.

A really shit memory helps me enormously. I don’t have the capacity to hold onto anything that makes me uptight or worried. Obviously it has its downsides.

I have a life limiting illness and it puts things in perspective

I decide very carefully and deliberately, precisely what I am going to spend my limited amount of fucks on. I dont give any to things I cant change, influence or control in anyway. I'm extremely practical and calm in an emergency...dealing with what is in front of me. I dont catastrophise or go down 'what if' rabbit holes. There's no point.

Firstly don’t worry what other people think about you. Just taking that one step changes everything.

Secondly always remember the saying “This too shall pass’. It helps you to not think that any current drama is a total catastrophe.

I also use a tactic a mentor once told me he used and that was when faced with a bad situation to think through the absolute worst possible outcome and then realise that even that was manageable. When you then realise that the worst outcome is invariably far from the most likely to occur, you gain confidence that everything can be handled.

As another poster has said above, a traumatic experience puts life clearly into perspective. But obviously you don’t want to have to go through that lol.

in my case a close family member was seriously injured very randomly and we nearly lost them. Every worry I’ve had since is nothing compared to that time,so I just let it go over me. If I can get through that trauma I can get through anything

Have an absolutely catastrophic fuck up. After that everything else seems pretty trivial.

Not worrying what others think.
I'm 62. My mortgage is paid, my ds is healthy, happy & off to uni in September, and I have an adequate pension.

I don't worry about men, career or money anymore. I enjoy my work without career stress and it is local so a 10 minute rural commute.

It makes a huge difference and has taken a long time to achieve. It's easy to be carefree when the main sources of worry are no longer there.

What dosage and/or brand please? I will order right away!

Sertraline and loads of CBT.

(I'm not sure I'd be described as laid back now, but I am known for being very calm and unflappy at work and am good at thinking 'does this actually matter?' in my personal life)

Having gone through some traumatic events in my early adult years, I realised that most things that people fuss and panic about really don't matter very much. I also grew more and more confident with age.

Magnesium. I don’t react as emotionally as I used to. The old me would have blown up over most things that just roll off me now