For me, having a sense of humor is essential to survive. Being an introvert, I sometimes find it hard and awkward to be with people. However, when the people I'm with have a good sense of humor, I'd feel comfortable. It's as if humor helps me connect with others.
Most of the people I've met also told me that I have a good sense of humor... that they feel comfortable talking with me and that I'm fun to be with. This makes me really happy. Aside from these reasons, I feel that humor somehow takes away the negativity I sometimes feel in my heart. It helps me maintain a positive outlook in life. There's a saying in my country that goes, "Tawanan mo ang iyong problema." which translates to Laugh at your problems.
This may be weird or somehow challenging to do, but it sure is effective. It doesn't mean that we're going to let our problems be, but sometimes, we need to pause and have some diversion so as not to stress ourselves too much... and that's when humor comes in. It helps us clear our minds and eventually allows us to think of ways to deal with our problems better.
I'm lucky to have parents who match my craziness. Even though there are only three of us in the family (plus our furbaby Arashi), we can enjoy and have fun. We try to help and cheer each other up. They might have been a bit strict when I was younger, but I wasn't scared to tell them anything. They made me feel that they're not just my parents, but they're also my friends, so I could feel comfortable opening up to them. We practice open communication and I guess humor had influenced it as well. If they had always been grumpy and never showed their humorous side, I would have been scared to talk or open up to them. I guess humorous people are naturally approachable as well.
Whenever I'm with my close friends, especially my bestie, I feel like there's no end to our craziness. We tend to laugh our hearts out and we do crazy stuff together. It's a great way to unwind.
In the photo above, my bestie and I tried putting on some dress from a shopping mall. We didn't have any intention of buying them, we just thought of wearing some and taking a picture... and yeah, this picture was taken in the fitting room. haha I miss those days. We were kind of stressed from school and we needed to do something to forget our school works and hospital duties even for a bit.
My bestie now lives far away... basically the opposite side of the world, so we rarely meet. However, when I'm feeling down, just a simple message or call from her is enough to make feel better. She's crazy... though she always says I'm crazier. xD
This is really one of my fave photos of me and my Korean student before (who is now a good friend of mine for the past 9 years or so...)
As a teacher, being humorous is also very important. Students would feel much more comfortable talking with you and they won't hesitate to ask you questions whenever they don't understand the lesson. I no longer teach in person, but I still use humor in my current job as an online ESL teacher.
I quit the English Academy almost ten years ago, but some of my students kept in touch with me. They even meet up with me whenever they visit the Philippines. I guess they miss their crazy teacher from "prison" (The academy was a sparta academy, so they call it 'prison'.)
Most of my students in the online school I'm working for now are Japanese and majority of them are pretty shy at first. They'd say they understand the topic and that they don't have any questions even though sometimes they're still uncertain. They're often very mindful that they may think making a teacher explain again would be a problem when it's actually not. Inserting funny comments and creating a light atmosphere help them relax and enjoy the class even more. I'm just happy they get my sense of humor. haha I guess being familiar with their culture also helped me a lot.
Pardon my face... xD
I can't imagine life without laughter. If such a place with no humor or laughter exists, I don't know how long I'd survive.
