Humor is tragedy plus time.*
—Mark Twain
80. Reframing stories with humor is a great way to transform unsavory episodes into comic gold—even if it is only for your sanity. I had an urgent opportunity to put this idea into practice two days before Christmas last year. I was with my family at the annual Charles Dickens reenactment festival, when I saw the Ghost of Christmas Past: my family . . . not getting along . . . just like the last Christmas . . . and the Christmas before that.
We all know that family and holidays have the potential to be disastrous, and I was not willing to play Scrooge this year. While the haunting scene was unfolding before me, I decided to picture myself one year from then, when I would be howling with laughter at the retelling of the tale. It was hard. I had to reason with my impulses. Stay with it. This is comedy, I told myself as I popped a vein in my neck.
The details aren’t important (I don’t want to talk about it**). The point is that this could have ruined me for the rest of the month, but it didn’t. Why wait to find the humor in an ugsome*** situation? Don’t lash out; instead, lie back and enjoy, ’cause this shit is funny.
* I have been a big fan of Mark Twain for years, but I found this quote after I had already come to the same conclusion, I swear.
** See No65. Block It Out.
*** Charles Dickens liked this word. He borrowed it from Old Norse (for further reading on etymology, see No82. For the Love of Words).