I know I’m probably going to step on a toe or two here and that is the last thing I want to do. Please be patient with me and try to understand where I’m coming from.
During my darkest days I completely lost all sense of humour – what’s there to laugh about when the whole world seems to be crumbling around you? Don’t get me wrong I didn’t become a hate-the-world trying to bring others down to my level at least as far as I was concerned, maybe others had a different opinion.
I would be visiting friends or family and they would be watching a comedy show. They would be laughing and joking and I just didn’t get it! Yes I would laugh along to try to fit in but I just didn’t feel it on the inside. I was a pretender and it showed. I would occasionally laugh out of context because I wasn’t getting the joke and this would elicit strange looks and occasional questions. It made me feel even more of an outsider than if I had simply not bothered trying.
I would go home and wonder how they could be so happy when my life was a living hell. I wasn’t annoyed at them for their seeming lack of understanding of the fact that the world – and my world in particular – was going down the tubes, it was just a total enigma to me.
After a while this began to bother me. (Obviously or I wouldn’t be writing about it here.)
I began to watch comedy shows, stand-up comedians, read the funnies in the papers, anything that I thought I should see as funny but didn’t. It was all very surreal.
Slowly it dawned on me that I wasn’t allowing myself to be happy. I was unable to put my problems aside even for a minute or two. It was all very depressing.
At some stage I decided that this was not going to be the rest of my life, I was only in my twenties for goodness sake. I began by setting aside an hour or so every now and then where I refused to let my mind wander and dwell on my problems. This was going to be ‘me’ time. Time where my worries and concerns would be banished. And I started by allowing myself to be happy just for this small amount of time.
This is a very important concept that I don’t want to pass over lightly. I actually had to tell myself over and over again that I was allowed to be happy, just for this small amount of time, no matter the shit going on around me. After all everyone else was living in the same world as me, facing their own problems, and if they can do it, why not me?
Using reason to overcome emotion is a concept we’re all familiar with here, but what of using reason to INSTIL emotion? Are our emotions something to be fought at every turn? I for one say no, uh-uh, no way.
And this is where I may step on some toes.
Occasionally here threads take on a humorous turn. While I completely understand the mods cracking down on threads being taken over by silly shit, a little fun, in my eyes can only be a good thing and I believe they understand this.
I also understand that some, especially those still going through shit, may see humour in the middle of what is a serious topic as an annoyance or even offensive. That is part of the reason for this post, to show that no disrespect is intended.
There has also been the suggestion that humour be relegated mainly to the Random (Non-MGTOW) forum and I can agree with that for the likes of jokes and humorous stories, but IMO humour is at its best when least expected. Stand-ups know the truth of this, the good ones almost always lead you down a path of thought only to shit all over it with the punch-line.
Oftentimes threads can be quite intense and the odd bit of humour thrown in can ‘lighten the load’ so to speak allowing readers to step back for a second and refocus.
Also it allows lurkers to see that we’re not just a bunch of ne’er do wells and world haters; that we also have a fun, positive side.
Last and certainly not least, I have a friend that was in the military. He is forever emphasising to me that the dark humour of enlisted men is as much a coping mechanism as anything else and I believe the same applies here. Whilst I have gone beyond the rage stage, many here haven’t. Having just one moment in the day when you let down your guard and something makes you laugh, or at least brings a smile to your face can be extremely therapeutic.
I hope I haven’t pissed anyone off here and as always other’s views, both for and against, are more than welcome.
Anyway, these three guys walk into a bar…