Laughing at Yourself
I have something for you. It’s something that can make your life feel easier, that can make your load feel lighter, and that can give you a feeling of resilience, even when you’re exhausted or overwhelmed. Now I have to rephrase the first thing I said to you, which was, “I have something for you.” To tell the truth, I don’t have it, you do.
You might not be using it, though, which in practical terms, is pretty much the same as not having it at all. Starting now, you’ll have it, and you’ll know you have it, which is a powerful combination. A lot of us know we have it, but we forget to use it when we need it most, which is any time life feels challenging or overwhelming.
This quality we already have may be the best strategy for coping and thriving in what can seem like an insane world. All I’m talking about is a willingness to laugh at yourself. Notice I didn’t say an ability to laugh at yourself. We all have the ability to laugh at ourselves, but not all of us use it. I said a willingness to laugh at yourself.
A Willingness to Laugh at Yourself
Here’s what’s magical about it. In order to laugh at yourself, you have to engage in a mental exercise that lets you see yourself from a detached, more objective point of view. In other words, to laugh at yourself, you have to step outside yourself, or outside of the personal perspective that we confuse with reality.
You’re sort of willing yourself to have an out-of-body experience (or maybe I should say an out-of-mind experience) and as soon as you imagine it, you’ve broken the spell that your situation or condition had over you. It’s like some giant has reached down and picked you up, and lifted you to a point where you can take in what’s happening. Now you can see it from a bigger perspective. Now you can see it with less emotional baggage clouding your view.
When you turn that frustration or anger, or impatience or crushing disappointment or whatever it is into a laugh, you’ve just released the hold that emotion had over you.
Being able to laugh at yourself
Being able to laugh at yourself is discovering you have a re-set button that you may have forgotten about. This re-set button allows you to defuse almost any emotional state, instead of feeling like you’re being held hostage by it.
I understand that for some of us, the idea of laughing at ourselves is as unattractive as being laughed at by others. If it feels that way to you, don’t worry. That doesn’t have to stop you. But what might make it easier for you is understanding the difference between humility and humiliation. They have the same root, but they’re not the same thing.
Humiliation makes you feel less than you are. It’s degrading and reductive. Humility restores a more realistic sense of balance and perspective. It helps you see more clearly what’s real, and what’s not, what’s important, and what’s not.
It restores a sense of context to the way you see yourself, your world, and how you fit into it. Besides, if you turn away from laughing at yourself, you’re throwing away endless comic material and some of the best laughs you’ll ever have! Does that sound better than being overwhelmed and exhausted? It is!
