I heard myself whisper these words under my breath as I tried desperately to sort out a variety of technical difficulties during last night’s live video stream.
Don’t judge me. We’ve all been there even to a small degree.
As much as we’d rather not admit it, most of us typically let out a huff or roll our eyes back when it comes to those irritating First World problems:
- WiFi is down
- Slow drive-thru line
- Lousy social media app update
- Favorite TV show is interrupted due to some political issue
- Ate too much over the holidays and now you definitely have to go to the gym
The classics are a little less embarrassing but we still don’t want to acknowledge that they bother us too much:
- Missing an important event because you’re stuck at the office
- Losing the entire project because you forgot to press the save button
- Getting stuck in a conversation you tried your best to avoid
Ugh. That’s just the small stuff. Let’s face it, if we allow those tiny and insignificant things to get under our skin then how can we expect to deal with events that are actually significant? Such as:
- Breakups
- Bills, student loans, and even more bills
- Losing that big deal or job promotion
It doesn’t matter who we are or where we are in life. It’s the same for the high-achieving serial entrepreneur as it is for the stay-at-home mompreneur; and status is irrelevant, which means the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and the Instagram-famous college student will each get their fair share. Whether we like it or not – shtuff happens.
You know it and I know it.
But what can we do about it?
Ask Google and you’ll quickly find there’s no shortage of experts offering their best tips and tricks for dealing with life’s woes and varying stressors. Heck, just tap the search bar here on Thrive Global and you’re bound to learn something helpful from the thousands of contributors around the world.
My favorite coping skills and stress relievers include: running, journaling & free writing, meditation, exercise, listening to music, and going for a long drive to yell obscenities where nobody else can hear me.
In addition to those, another one I use is laughter.
That’s right laughter. The big belly kind, just like that jolly old elf that visited recently.
With regard to last night’s live stream, after about sixty minutes of technical difficulties, I got the distinct feeling that the Universe had somehow stepped in to test my (and my guest’s) resolve just to make sure we were practicing what we were about to preach.
I imagined it went something like this: “Ok, you’ve been looking forward to interviewing this guest, spent time coordinating schedules and promoting, and now you’re about to host a discussion on using laughter to overcome difficult situations? Fantastic! I will now mess with your video function, create distracting audio feedback, and delay you sixty minutes so you can thoroughly waste your viewers time.” That was how I heard it in my head, narrated like a Saturday morning cartoon villain while twisting a stringy jet-black handlebar mustache.
I digress.
Laughter is a powerful tool; always available to help us overcome even the most troubling circumstances. Then you won’t catch yourself, like me, praying for Facebook to work properly.
Get the full scoop with the replay of last night’s live stream. In this video, my excellent friend Dr. Bob Choat delivers plenty of laughs plus offers three key reasons we should include laughter in our business/career.