You Can’t Force Funny

The worst of it is, they think their sense of humor is their superpower, when in reality, it’s their biggest weakness.

Spartans weren’t just known for their fighting skills. They had jokes, too.

“Good, then we shall have our battle in the shade,” comes to mind. A one-liner made for the movies, but also a perfect comeback Dienekes really said when the Persians threatened to blot out the sun with their arrows.

Can you imagine some dude just tossing that out there before battle? Hysterical!

Obviously, the Spartans didn’t invent the use of humor in uncomfortable situations. They were just really good at it. But so are doctors, miners, social workers, and more. All part-time comedians who use humor to deal with the absurdity of life.

“We use humor to cope with stress,” Janet Gibson, Professor of Psychology at Grinnell College, begins. “Humor helps us to feel good humor is self-medication when stress threatens. Laughing may also produce endorphins which help to elevate our mood and buffer threats to our immune system. Humor helps increase our ability to control the situation.”

That doesn’t mean we have to be the life of the party, endlessly cracking jokes to be happy. But it does mean we’d be better off using every tool we’ve been given to our advantage, including humor. Particularly…