The ability to loosen up around people is useful in terms of socializing properly. Plus, it will make your daily life much more fun. In this article, I will teach you 20 ways you can loosen up more so you can really live life to the fullest.
The stresses and troubles of our day-to-day life can cause to be unhappy overall. This can cause you to be tenser even in relaxed and fun situations. That is why you need to learn the habit of loosening up to other people and to loosen up in general.
If you’re able to loosen up more, not only will you have an easier time dealing with your day-to-day dealings but people will admire your attitude and they’ll want to be friends with you. With that said, here are 20 ways you can loosen up more.
1. Don’t Be Afraid Of Mistakes
Mistakes are bound to happen anywhere you go. Sometimes it will be because of something you did, sometimes it will be out of your control. The best thing you can do is to just move on from it.
If you keep on being afraid of mistakes, you’ll always be on edge. You’ll never have the right amount of fun, or worse, you’ll never have any fun at all. You’ll always just be on the look out for possible mistakes instead of living in the moment and having fun.
Stop being afraid of mistakes. In fact, whenever they do happen, just allow it. Mistakes can either be learning moments or insignificant ones in the grander scheme of things. It’s better if you see it as the former. If you’re never afraid of mistakes, you’ll be able to loosen up more.
2. Manage Your Expectations
You need to set the right expectations for everything you do in life. This is a very good way of avoiding disappointments, which in turn, will help you loosen up more.
This is something you can apply in almost every aspect of your life. In your career, relationships, even in your socializing life. Make sure your expectations are realistic and doable.
On the other hand, don’t also limit yourself to little things if you know you can do a bit more. Your actions should match your realistic expectations.
If you’re able to manage your expectations, you’ll have a lesser chance of failing at things. And we already know how that can help you in loosening up more. Make sure it’s something you practice enough that it becomes a standard.
3. Be Mindful Of Your Body Language
Your body language will say things your mouth cannot, and people will be able to understand them just as well. Make sure you’re mindful of your body language as you’re trying to loosen up more to other people.
Certain body movements you need to avoid as you’re trying to loosen up more are the following:
- Crossing your arms
- Slouching
- Always looking at the ground
- Avoiding eye contact
- Making your arms and hands tense
Instead of doing those things, do the following instead:
- If you feel awkward with having your arms just hang there, put your hands in your pockets while keeping your arms relaxed.
- If you’re uncomfortable with eye contact, just keep your eyes in the bridge of their nose, right between their eyes.
- Stand up straight
- Nod slightly whenever someone says something interesting
- Lean just a bit forward to the person you’re speaking to
These are just a couple of things you can watch out for when watching out for your body language. If you want to loosen up more, your body needs to be relaxed as well.
4. Learn To Laugh At Yourself
Earlier, we talked about not being afraid of making mistakes. This takes that up a notch. Whenever you end up doing something silly, you have to know that it’s okay to laugh at yourself. Even when you’re bantering with a friend and they say something funny about you, just laugh it off instead of getting offended.
If you’re able to laugh at yourself, you’re more relaxed as a person and everyone around you will know that you can loosen up around them. People like hanging out with others who aren’t very uptight. Being offended over banters and being unable to laugh at yourself will make you come off as uptight.
Just have fun with the idea of being able to laugh at yourself. Just make sure you don’t do it too much that you come off as silly. You still have to make an effort to make sure you don’t just end up doing silly things all the time, but whenever they do happen, if it is unavoidable, just laugh it off instead of being tense about it.
5. Share Funny Experiences
One really good way you can really loosen up to other people is to tell them some of your funny experiences. Share a funny memory, even if it can come off as embarrassing. People love hearing funny stories. If those stories come from you, then even better!
Don’t be afraid or ashamed of sharing embarrassing stories. You might think that people will judge you for it, but they won’t. They’ll even see you as confident for being able to share embarrassing stories about yourself. Just make sure the stories you tell are all light-hearted in nature and nothing too extreme.
People will like your appeal and your attitude if you’re not ashamed of sharing embarrassing stories and will like being around you more if you have funny experiences to tell. This is a win-win factor for you. You’re able to loosen up to others, you’ll have more fun, and your social appeal will improve.
6. Keep an Open Mind
To be able to loosen up more, you’ll need to always keep an open mind. You have to remember that the world is a vast place and everyone has very different experiences from one another. Beliefs can clash and people will not always agree with each other. You, on the other hand, should remain open-minded.
Whenever someone says something that goes against your belief system, don’t immediately shut them out or argue with them. Instead, hear them out. Let them speak and lend them your ears. Who knows? Maybe they’ll say something really interesting?
The point is, you’re keeping an open mind towards a situation that can easily lead to conflict. If you can do this without any problem and avoid conflict altogether, you’re letting yourself loosen up more.
7. Don’t Second Guess Yourself
Never second guess the things you do. The goal here is to loosen up and live in the moment, so that means you shouldn’t get stuck in the past.
As we’ve already established, if something goes wrong, you can just allow it to happen. If you make a mistake, you can just laugh it off, but if everything goes well, then very good. That’s what you need to keep in mind throughout all of this. If it goes wrong, then you can just move on from it. If it goes really well, then it will seem like it was the plan all along. You can loosen up more if your mindset is always like this.
8. Be More Empathetic
Empathy is your ability to put yourself in the position of others. You’re able to see things from their perspective and understand things from where they’re standing. If you can utilize your empathetic abilities, you can make the lives of everyone around you improve!
Being able to understand other people on a deep level makes it easier to loosen up more around them. You can give them the proper sets of advice, or you can steer your interaction towards something that meets the needs of their emotions. For example, if you know the other person is feeling particularly grim, then you’ll know that the situation needs to be lighter.
You’ll never be uptight around people who are feeling down because you know how to handle every situation just by being empathetic. You’re not only making the lives of others easier but you’re also making each interaction easier for you.
9. Do More Extracurricular Activities
Make it a habit to go out and do more extracurricular activities. Put yourself in a position where you’ll get to see nature more. Do exciting activities like mountain climbing, trekking, water rafting, snorkeling, and the like.
This is a very good way of lifting your spirits and expanding your view of the world. This, in turn, will help you relax more in life. An adventurous person is more comfortable loosening up to other people compared to that of a person who generally just stays at home most of the time.
Do this to help your mind and body be more relaxed, but also to just experience more of the world. This is one of the most fun things you can do in life. Make sure you take advantage of it.
10. Study Comedians and Talk Show Hosts
Comedians and talk show hosts are very good examples of people who can loosen up in front of others. I mean, they do so in front of hundreds, if not thousands of people!
You can look up comedians and talk show hosts online and pay attention to how they handle their body language, how they speak, how clear their voices are, the construction of their stories, and just overall how relaxed they are when speaking in front of a crowd. What they do on stage and on-camera can help you in real life.
Apply what you see from them in your next interactions. You can even use some of the jokes you hear as inspiration to make others laugh. If you can interact with people in real life like a comedian interacts with their crowds, then loosening up to others will come very easy for you.
11. Surround Yourself With People Who Know How To Loosen Up
You need to surround yourself with people who can also loosen up around you. This will make the process so much simpler for you and you’ll even feel more comfortable loosening up. You’ll feel like it’s the right thing to do.
Don’t get me wrong, you’ll meet people who are tense and I’m not necessarily saying that you should stay away from them. In fact, your ability to loosen up may even help them relax a little. This is a good thing for you because people will want to be around you more if you’re able to help them relax.
But if you’re constantly around people who can be relaxed around you, you won’t even have to think about loosening up. It will be something that will just happen to you. It will feel natural.
This is especially helpful if you’re just starting out and just learning how to loosen up. This will give you a very good start. In time, you’ll be able to loosen up to anyone despite of their attitude, because it’s already a part of your personality.
12. Take Care Of Your Body
If you want to feel more relaxed and to loosen up more, you need to take care of your physical health.
If you have the time and resources, go to your nearest gym and sign up for a membership. You can also just choose to run on the outdoors, or do your exercises at home. Whatever it is you need and can do to keep a healthier physique, do so.
The healthier you are, the happier you are. And the happier you are, the easier it is for you to loosen up more to people.
13. Acknowledge Your “Inner Child”
Even as we grow older, we all have that “inner child” that lingers in all of us. This case is unique for everyone. People will like things or will be drawn to things that are perhaps more appealing for children. Cartoons, candies, amusement parks, and other things in this category are more or less targeted to children, but that doesn’t mean you, as an adult, can’t enjoy it as well.
Embrace your “inner child”. Never be ashamed of it. In fact, be proud of it. Acknowledging your inner child is a good way to loosen up more because you’re embracing a part of you that you might think is shameful for adults to have.
You need to know that that’s not the case at all. Believe me, a lot of adults are very much into things children enjoy, or even act like children sometimes. Whenever we play or have fun or laugh with our peers, we can be misconstrued as children playing around sometimes. Don’t be ashamed of this happening. Loose up more and embrace it.
14. Listen To The Suggestions Of Others
Make sure you can take in the suggestions of others as much as you do yours. It’s a very good way of loosening up to people if you’ll also willing to do the things they want.
For example, if you’re planning a trip with friends and you really want to go to the mountains but a friend wants to go to a paradise-like island, then opt for their suggestion. This will make you appear more relaxed and that you’re willing to “go with the flow”.
15. Pay Compliments
Another thing you need to practice in order to loosen up more to others is to not be afraid of paying compliments. Don’t bother with how the compliment will be taken, the important thing is you’re able to speak your mind and say good things about others.
A lot of people will simply take compliments for what they are. It will make them feel good and it will make them feel comfortable around you. This is helpful if you are also to loosen up to them.
16. Be Grateful For Good Things
We talked about accepting bad things to happen. Whenever mistakes come, don’t worry about it and move on. This time, when good things do happen, enjoy them to the fullest.
Be grateful whenever good things happen. This is what you’re trying to achieve when trying to loosen up to others, after all. So whenever you’re blessed with something good, be grateful and act like it. Celebrate. Cherish your relationships and friendships. Have fun with the people around you.
Relax and enjoy! If you celebrate the good things, you’ll be seen as a positive company and people will love having you around.
17. Acknowledge That You Can’t Control Everything
Things will not always go your way. You plan one thing and another happens. You want to befriend someone but they don’t reciprocate the effort. If things are out of your control, it’s okay. Learn to accept that.
It’s frustrating to think that there are things you want to control but couldn’t. That’s exactly it, though. It’s frustrating. That’s why you need to take a different road and just simply accept that you can’t control things and move on.
Staying frustrated at something you can’t control will only destroy your overall mood. You won’t be able to loosen up, which is something you don’t want in your life.
18. Work On Your Personal Goals
It’s good to know how to play hard, but if you want to loosen up more and really apply that to your overall personality, you also need to take care of your personal goals. Don’t disregard your dreams and aspirations.
If you’re working on your personal goals and are doing a hell of a job at that, your fun and games outside of that will never be compromised. You’ll have fun properly without thinking of your personal goals because you know you aren’t discarding that.
This is good advice for learning how to loosen up more but it’s also good life advice overall. Make sure you practice this properly.
19. Have a Healthy Work-Life Balance
In continuation of the last point, you need to balance a healthy personal and work life. You need to know when to take things seriously and you need to know when to have fun. You need to know when to work and you need to know when to go out.
You’re taking care of both your professional and social life by having a healthy work-life balance. Make sure you don’t put one over the other. Make sure you don’t disregard your work for your friends and you don’t disregard your friends for your work. If you’re doing great with both, you’ll be a more relaxed person as a whole.
20. Learn How To Socialize Effectively
Finally, to be able to loosen up more, you’re going to need how to socialize in the first place. If you’re a master at socializing, you will be more relaxed in public. You won’t feel tense whenever you’re surrounded by strangers because you’ll know exactly how to socialize with them.
Boost Your Social Skills
Being comfortable and loosing in up around people absolutely critical if you want to create a social life that is worth it. To learn more about the social skills that you need to be socially fulfilled and happy, get your copy of my Get The Friends You Want eBook.
In it, I’ll tell you what the exact social skills you need are and how to develop them quickly. You’ll also learn how to use those social skills effectively, to meet the right people, have fun with them, and build lasting friendships.