By Jessica Hubble | Multimedia Journalist
Life is just too short to take yourself so seriously. From a young age, I was taught to laugh at myself and not be embarrassed by small things. From the time I was about five-years-old until now, I can tumble head first down the stairs in my childhood home and the first thing you’ll hear is me dying of laughter.
Mistakes and accidents are inevitable. There’s no reason to be embarrassed or ashamed of them. Everyone makes mistakes; if you can laugh about the issue, it makes it so much easier to recover from it.
Everyone also has their quirks and weird habits. Someone poking a little fun or making a little joke about those habits or quirks doesn’t mean that they don’t like you or they’re being mean, it just means they find that quirk interesting. It’s good to learn to poke fun at your own tendencies and habits.
For example, I adore my pets. I have two back home that are family pets and two cats in Waco. They were both sick when I took them from a friend of a friend, so naturally I was worried about them. I had to leave them for a long period of time to go out with friends and I was trying to reassure myself by saying, “Oh, they will be OK for a few hours.” My friend responded, “They will be OK, but will you?” All I could do was laugh and nod because I know that fits my personality, there’s no reason to deny it.
According to a study by the University of California at Berkeley, laughing at yourself is good for your heart, means you can handle life better, manage pain better, boost your memory and that you have a healthy, happier outlook on life. Psychologists call this “adaptive humor.” This can be cheering people up or looking on the funny side of a negative event. Psychologists say this is connected with well-being and psychological health.
Many celebrities and public figures have no problem making fun of themselves. The most recent example is Sean Spicer’s cameo at the Emmy’s a week ago. He was a part of Stephen Colbert’s opening monologue and poked fun at himself when he was talking about Trump’s inauguration crowd size at a White House Press briefing.
Several celebrities and politicians have made appearances on Saturday Night Live just to poke fun at themselves or a scandal they have been involved in. Nicholas Cage has appeared multiple times solely to make fun of himself alongside Andy Samberg. Hillary Clinton appeared this past year before the election alongside her impersonator, Kate McKinnon, to have a good laugh at her own expense.
So next time you trip or make a little mistake, try and laugh it off because it’s good for your mental and physical health.
