I was working offsite with several coworkers, and someone printed a single page to review. It didn’t print the way he preferred, so he made a couple adjustments to the document, then clicked print again.
It wouldn’t print. He got a message stating the cartridge was incompatible with the printer.
Several of us tried multiple things to solve the issue. Nothing worked.
One coworker stated with frustration, “That makes no sense! It was compatible a few minutes ago then suddenly says it’s not compatible. How can something change that quickly?”
I laughed to myself. I didn’t say what I was thinking out loud, because not everyone would understand why it seemed funny to me. And perhaps it wasn’t actually funny, but sometimes we find odd humor among sad and frustrating circumstances.
Why was I laughing? Because the parallel between the printer and my life seemed ridiculously sensible and perplexing.
What I withheld saying was, “It makes sense to me! I mean, my husband of 27 years suddenly decided we weren’t compatible, so apparently, that’s a thing that can happen all the sudden without warning!”
Maybe it doesn’t sound as funny when it’s taken out of context. I certainly don’t laugh at the pain of my situation. But I find moments to laugh about the ridiculousness of it all. When I shared it with someone later, she replied, “Well, it’s not really that funny, but the fact that you can laugh at it makes me laugh!”
We all need comic relief at times, even when we’re in some difficult, trying situations.
Find a reason to laugh at yourself and your situation today. You can take life more seriously tomorrow.
