About

Can't Believe This My Life or LeBron Smiling, also known as Smiling Through It All, refers to an image of professional basketball player LeBron James smiling with his hand on his forehead as he stands in a pool alongside a caption that reads, "Smiling through it all, can't believe this my life." The photo was posted to LeBron James's Instagram story, likely in response to Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham telling him to "Shut up and dribble" after he made disparaging comments about Donald Trump in early 2018. The image came to be used as a reaction meme and exploitable template in the following years.

Origin

On February 16th, 2018, Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham remarked on LeBron James's anti-Trump comments, saying, "Shut up and dribble."^[1] Later that day, James took to his Instagram^[2] page @KingJames to post a story in which he can be seen standing in a pool and smiling up at the sun alongside a caption that reads, "Smiling through it call, can't believe this my life."

Spread

On December 26th, 2018, Redditor^[3] /u/KingDurGoat posted an edit of LeBron James's story to /r/lakers in which he is made to look like he is in an MRI room. The caption read, "When the MRI comes back negative." The post gathered over 300 upvotes in five years (seen below, left).

On September 13th, 2021, the Twitter^[4] page @XXL posted a version of the meme edited to read, "Suffering tremendously through it all," gathering over 3,000 likes in three years (seen below, right).

On May 8th, 2024, X^[5] user @my_chappie posted a version of the meme with some of the words blacked out so it reads, "I can't do this anymore," gathering over 3,000 likes in three weeks (seen below, left). On May 23rd, X user @spinachbabie posted a version of the meme that read, "Zoloft induced asexuality! Can't believe this my life." The post gathered over 30,000 likes in five days (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

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External References