Oh Be SERIOUS Mary!
Laugh And The World Laughs With You
Humor is also a way of saying something serious. – T. S. Eliot
I love to laugh; I love to make others laugh. However, this sometimes gets me into trouble, since I can be perceived as “not taking ‘it’ (whatever ‘it’ is) seriously. But, at the age of 50+, I’ve been around the block, run with wolves, swam with sharks…and all the rest of the hoary lines about making your way in this big, bad world. I’ve seen Masters of the Universe and Big Dogs with their pants around their ankles, both literally and figuratively.
I know what’s it like to be stranded by the side of the road with nobody to call and no money (That’s a [funny] story I’ll tell some other time). I’ve been broke, but never poor. Through it all – it always helped to be able to laugh (well, at least grin) at the absurdity of life and my circumstances.
I also have zero interest in dealing with humorless people who take themselves oh-so-seriously. They’re “experts” “gurus” “nationally recognized” “world-renowned” “thought leaders” (ack, ack), etc. etc…as they tell you themselves, ad nauseum and all over the place. Their button is permanently stuck on “transmit,” with nary a “receive.” Think Donald Trump without the money (and he’s a joke among his NY peers; as one noted, his biggest accomplishment was being born into a family with millions in real estate.) I – um – just can’t take them seriously and time’s too precious to waste on bombastic bores.
“I don’t know how you do it, Mary. I’d get KILLED for saying that to him/them!” I heard this or some variation more than once in my corporate career. (See above re wolves, sharks, Big Dogs) Well, my “secret” was humor. A twinkle in the eye, a smile…saying “that” just the right way. Of course, sometimes I got killed, but them’s the breaks.
My other “secret” was that I refused to live in fear. If the worst thing they could do was fire me…well, they didn’t have any power over me, no matter how much the CEO screamed. (I got into trouble for laughing at the screaming, but a tale for another day re my twenty-something years and working at an INSANE start-up…)
Life is a very serious matter…so LIVING should be fun.
About the Author
Mary Schmidt Has Written 26 Articles For Us!
Mary is a proud Corporate America refugee, having long ago decided that quality of life is far more important than quantity of stuff. However, that said, she thinks money is a very good thing - when used as a tool, not a success measurement. In addition to writing for us, she blogs about business development and marketing at www.maryschmidt.com and about marketing to and by women at www.lipsticking.com. In her consulting business, her clients have ranged from mega-corps such as Hewlett-Packard to local Mom & Pops.
