“We Cannot Afford to be Humorless”
Humor’s place at work and in life
“We can’t afford to be humorless. We are in the midst of a mental health crisis”
On a recent episode of the Hidden Brain podcast on NPR, author Jennifer Aaker (that’s her quote up there) dropped a galaxy of gems.
She was on the show promoting her new book Humor, Seriously — now I’m here to share some highlights of the interview (all quotes are pulled from the show) while expanding on some of the ideas.
[There’s also a bonus for you if you read to the end of this post. Or, just scroll all the way to the bottom you lunatic]
👉 “Humor can diffuse tension and bring us together like nothing else”
This goes far beyond a well-timed joke. Lots of people are capable of dropping a pop-culture reference in a tense environment and cashing in on the laughs.
But the real magic is when someone is truly funny, can really read a room. These people have the ability to communicate a sense of ease and camaraderie no matter the situation.
It’s smart, it’s effortless, it’s automatic.
Want to learn how to read the room? Keep going…
👉 “You lose your sense of humor around the age of 23”
Alright, this is a huge bummer. Sometime around college, or when you were ‘supposed to’ go to college but didn’t, life got serious.
Not necessarily because YOU wanted it to but because you thought it was SUPPOSED to. Everything around you got real serious, real fast.
Along with that you stopped being playful.
Spontaneity was curbed, fun slowed down, and you became less exciting to hang out with. You probably didn’t notice because everyone else around you got less fun too.
Want to learn how to turn this around? Keep reading…
👉 “We can’t afford to be humorless. We are in the midst of a mental health crisis”
As the world burns in various ways, it may seem trivial to read books or listen to podcasts about humor. It may be difficult to picture a world where you are carving out time to learn comedy and how it can positively impact your life, career, and relationships.
But we have to prioritize our mental health.
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Do you want to learn how to read the room?
How to recapture your sense of humor?
Why learning improv comedy can do loads of good for your mental health?
Every month I teach a completely free improv comedy class on Zoom. It’s open to absolutely everyone regardless of experience. If you’re interested send me an email: GO (at) hellyescreative.com.
My next session is on Tuesday October 5th at 7:00p CST.
“Even adding a light hearted line at the end of a pitch increases customers willingness to pay by 18%”
Look, I know I didn’t listen to that whole podcast for nothing. Take my class.
See you soon,