Jadon S., Kettering Fairmont High School
Finding Humor Through Times of Hardship
Finding Humor Through Times of Hardship
I have had many moments in my life where I’ve felt very sad or angry at myself, others, or even the world around me. One thing that can usually calm me down though is my own mind and thinking about how the situation I am in can be funny. Even if the situation is depressing or makes me feel bad, eventually I tend to try to find the comedy in what I am dealing with. This helps me become optimistic and overcome whatever hardship I am faced with. In this way, comedy has helped me through many different circumstances throughout my life, and I try to continue to use it any time I get put in a bad spot.
An example that I can think of that relates to me trying to find humor in a bad situation was earlier this year when I broke my shoulder. I had an accident on my trampoline that put my right arm in a sling for about a month, and it devastated me. I was running track at the time and since I couldn’t swing my arms, I had to quit halfway through the season and miss the championship. At first, I was really sad and also mad at myself for getting hurt by falling through the net of a trampoline of all things. However, I then began to focus on just that: the way that I fell. Even if it were in a messed-up way, the whole situation itself was kind of funny. When I told some of my friends about how I broke my shoulder, although I knew they felt bad for me, I also could tell they found it funny. Using this, I began to feel a lot better about myself and my circumstances than I did before, and I started to think about how in a month, I would be healed. Now, almost five months after I broke my shoulder, I realize that the humor and jokes I made about myself and my broken shoulder with others made me feel a lot better and more optimistic. Humor really can heal.
In conclusion, humor helped me to find the bright side of bad situations and has helped me to quickly overcome them. I know that, sometimes, hardships are not funny at all and can be very sad, and I hope that people who have faced problems like these can find a way to be optimistic. However, for me, I thrive on comedy and truly believe that comedy can sometimes be the best medicine.
