“Humor can alter any situation and help us cope at the very instant we are laughing.”

Allen Klein

Here’s an instant fix when the stress and pressure of the moment gets to be too much – laughter.  It might sound pedestrian or a little worn, but finding the hilarity in any situation has been one of my greatest pressure proofing weapons.  Humor is one of my go to Mental Toughness tools.  I love laughing, I love a perspective that finds the funny side of things.

Any professional warrior will tell you the same thing, laughter is a coping mechanism that allows us to perform at our peak when we need it most, under fire.  Some of the hardest belly laughs I’ve ever experienced (the kind that feels like you just did 1,000 sit ups and leaves you with tears rolling down your aching cheeks), have been had just prior to a mission or coming off of one.   This feat is usually accomplished by some hilarious one-liner ripping into a fellow team member’s idiosyncrasies.  The funniest ones are the ones that have been directed at me and pointed out my ludicrousness.  What I call my Clark Griswold moments. (Hah! The very mention of Clark Griswold makes me laugh.)

Laughing at myself has the effect of immediately removing the pressure and stress, and frees me up to perform at my peak, because at that point, I’m having fun.  Have you ever seen a sporting event where one team is “white knuckling” the game (usually because they have so much to lose, if they don’t win), and the other team is loose and smiling and joking around…i.e. having fun, and just crushing the other side?

In today’s world of high tech, you can instantly find a funny movie clip to artificially inject humor into your circumstances if you are having a hard manufacturing it organically.  I’ve already mentioned one of my favorites, National Lampoon’s Vacation movies, with Chevy Chase.  Others include, Tommy Boy, with Chris Farley, Meet the Parents, with Ben Stiller, Oh Brother, Where Art Though?, with George Clooney, and on and on.

In the words of Han Solo, “Laugh it up, Fuzz Ball.” ( Oh, that reminds me of Space Balls, with John Candy, there’s another one.)

Boo Yah!!