Mistake. Accident. Faux pas. Fubar. They happen to all of us. Sometimes, they make us angry. Sometimes, they make us want to cry. Fortunately, sometimes, they can also make us laugh.
When to See the Humor
When something goes wrong, our natural reaction is be upset. We also may feel agitated, embarrassed, and disheartened. At the same time, we’ll undoubtedly start taking action to reverse course, if possible. If it’s on-going, we’ll try to stop what’s happening and prevent the situation from worsening. During and/or after that, we’ll begin strategizing to see how/if we can fix what just broke, spilled, or had a result other than intended.
When we take a (mental) step back though, more times than not, we also may be able to see the humorous side to the latest “whoops!” or “oh, *#%*” moment. Of course, there are many things that will never (and should never) be seen as funny…but some accidents are probably a lot more amusing than people tend to admit. How about that time you spent hours painting…and inadvertently knocked over the paint can when you were cleaning up. Messy? Yes. Funny? Yeah, it was. So, maybe your specific example didn’t involve a can of lime green paint, but I’ll bet you’ve experienced a similar kind of “let’s hope we can laugh about this later” moment.
Why to Find the Funny
No matter how seriously we take our lives, our jobs, and ourselves, unwanted results will happen. It’s inevitable that countless little (and sometimes big) things will go wrong. You can’t stop them…but you can try to see the funny in them. You can try to turn your horror into comedy, your distress into amusement. Why? Because it’s more enjoyable to laugh than cry or yell. The mistake will be there anyway—all you can control afterward is your reaction.
And, to help you find a little more funny in your day, The Advertiser is pleased to announce that we are adding a monthly cartoon! We hope you’ll enjoy a little extra levity.