Why So Serious? Behind the Humor Behind the Blog
Content Warning: Death
THE IMPORTANCE OF HUMOR
Given the choice between a great life void of humor and a shit life with nothing but laughs, I’m going to choose shit ten times over because, in my book, a life without laughter can't possibly be considered great.
I wanted to make it quite obvious to my readers just how important humor is to me, but it's also essential to those with mental illness (T/MIs) in general, as many of us are stabilized—or at the very least, eased—by it. So if we can’t laugh at ourselves, we doom ourselves.
In fact, my preferred method of expiration is going to be the Fred Weasley way—life snuffed out in a painless instant, the ghost of my laughter still echoing along the corridors, and my last words being a joke.
When someone is laughing so hard that they nearly can’t breathe, they say, “I’m dying!” To die laughing is my ultimate goal, because it lends a certain imperviousness to us. Laughing in the face of death, of danger, of woe, is like giving a giant middle finger to the terrible situation we're in. We are beyond the ability to be intimidated by our circumstances. If we can laugh, we show our courage but also our surrender. Think these things are different, do you? On the contrary, courage is surrender—the act of surrendering to our fear. It may appear that fear has won, but it doesn’t mean we give IN; we get UP and transform into a braver, stronger version of ourselves that we often forget we had tucked away. We make ourselves invincible not in spite of the fear but because of it.
Damn—where the hell was I going with this? Right. Humor makes us gods. This is why I refuse—utterly and with fervor—to put it aside for the sake of sounding a little more ‘classy’ or ‘professional.’ At some point, you will all know some of my deepest, darkest secrets, so I think the ship for propriety has sailed to a land far, far away.
Humor is one of the only talents I have that I will willingly and readily admit to. Wit is an indication of a person’s intellect, cleverness, and acuity. I won’t admit to being any of these things, but ‘witty’—why yes, indeed, I am! This is both a cloak and a tool. It serves as my cloak to hide the good qualities about myself so that that part of me with low self-esteem can continue to bask in self-beratement.
And the tool? The fact that I’m able to admit to being witty (which encompasses all of these things) is the smallest of steps that I’m capable of taking to admitting that I have all the rest. Crumbs... they may be irritating messes to clean up for some people, but for me, crumbs are my method of finding a way back to myself.
NOW ON TO THE FUNNY BUSINESS
With all that being said, I wanted one of my first articles to explain my unique sense of humor and the language that I'll be using throughout my articles. Senses of humor are tricky, temperamental things. In fact, there are times when I have assumed—without reason to believe any differently—that someone has a similar sense of humor, and I'll make a joke that utterly fails to resonate, or at worst offends. Miscalculating someone's sense of humor happens all the time. We can't know how a joke is going to land, so the audacity to be funny actually takes a great deal of courage.
This might be one of the reasons why I have kept my friend circle to the very small number that it is today. I know all of my friends' senses of humor, and I try only to use that type of humor when I'm around them. It works out for me, actually, because I like all the humor types that they do (which was either kismet or the fact that growing up together helped develop similar humor inclinations). It just means there's a different set of uses for my Chameleon Skin (more on this in future articles).
So for future reference, I may use the following humor types throughout my articles. Some of them may be a little triggering for certain people. I will be applying trigger warning content labels to any articles that warrant it for these purposes. To understand a little more about how this works, check out the FAQs and Disclaimer.
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Witticism or “quick wit,” as you may remember, is one of my talents. You will often see witty remarks throughout my articles, but this is generally referred to as a “tame” humor type. People like to hear clever jokes woven into the background as if they were always meant to be there.
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This type often comes with a bit of controversy, given that my blog is based around mental health. I want to sneak in a quick disclaimer here that I may inadvertently make a self-deprecating joke now and again. I have struggled with low self-esteem issues for most of my life. I am only recently coming to terms with that and trying to correct it, and the struggle remains very real.
If I make a joke like this, you are free to call me out on it. In fact, I'm sure that would help me as I continue to adapt and learn to love myself. If, however, you would rather apply the label of hypocrite, I can't stop you, but I do urge you to consider that we are all learning here, myself included. And the only way to continue to learn and grow is if we stop putting each other down.
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I'm very fond of this humor type. I try to implement it myself whenever I can, and I adore when other people use it. Sometimes laughing at your own jokes is not as satisfying as when you can control yourself and watch others ROTFL. Plus, it gives you a bit of authority—the combination of quickness people didn't see coming, and mastery of your own faculties not to succumb to the desire to laugh even though you know how funny it is. Sometimes it makes you feel like the King/Queen of Jokes, and for the briefest a moments, you're on top. This feeling is actually quite important for your mental health—so long as you can come down from it again, that is.
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My husband's least favorite, as he likes to remind me by giving me a Bilbo-eating-his-dinner-before-the-Dwarves-come-barging-in stare every time I make a beautifully worded pun. I adore wordplay, and this will probably be the humor type that you'll notice most throughout my articles.
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As you'll probably have noticed in the first two paragraphs, I do have a dark sense of humor, as well. This humor type is notorious for making light of serious situations and taboo subject matter. Talking about how I would prefer to die like Fred Weasley from Harry Potter was my way of initiating you all into my world of dark humor. It's lighter than you might expect, so I don't feel the need to shy away from these subjects when it comes to humor. I won't be getting too dark in this blog, because I know readers may have a lot of triggers, but this humor will pop up from time to time. I don't want anyone to be unprepared.
Humor I'm not all that fond of: Awkward (laughing at other's expense), Insult, and Slapstick. I like Satire and Situational, but I rarely use them myself.
THE PUNCHLINE
The articles I'll be writing in this blog will be as fun and lighthearted as I can make them, utilizing wordplay, quick wit and dry humor whenever I can. There may be some instances of self-deprecating or dark humor, in which case I will apply content/trigger warnings and it will be your decision as to whether you want to read that particular article.
I'm excited to start writing these articles, but I want you all to be prepared, as senses of humor are funny but fickle things. One size does not fit all.
