Laughing at the Absurdity of it All.

A light-hearted guide to laughing at the absurdity of it all. I mean what else can you do?

Let’s be honest: life is objectively ridiculous, makes no sense, the great mystery, how else could it be described?

You spend the first quarter of it learning how to walk and not poop your pants, the middle half chasing money so you can pay strangers to fix the things you bought with that money, and the final stretch trying to remember where you left your glasses, complaining about your knees, and telling youngsters what it was like when you were their age. Somewhere in there you fall in love, get your heart shredded like cheap parmesan a time for two, adopt a plant you swear you’ll keep alive this time, have kids, the perfect expression of the absurdity of life and then develop a close personal relationship with Dr. Google typing in your symptoms at 2 a.m.

Albert Camus called this “the absurd” – the clash between our craving for meaning and the universe’s stubborn refusal to provide one. He thought we should stare into that void with defiance and seriousness. Respectfully, Albert, I wonder if Groucho Marx had it right with his approach: if life won’t take itself seriously, why should I?

Humor is rebellion in a clown nose. At one level humor is the only sensible way to deal with the absurdity of it all. Taking it all so seriously has consequences. Physical and mental health can be impacted as well as potentially making you a real downer to be around.

When everything is meaningless, suddenly everything is funny. Traffic jam on the way to a job you don’t like so you can afford rent on an apartment you’re too tired to enjoy? What can you do but laugh? Spent three hours crafting a witty reply to someone who ghosted you six months ago? Tragic… but a hilarious waste of time. The fact that we’re moist meat sacks on a spinning rock, arguing about pineapple on pizza while hurtling through space at 67,000 miles per hour? Total Absurdity.

The trick is to treat existence like a long-running improv show where the only rule or appropriate response is “Yes, and…” Your alarm didn’t go off? Yes, and now you get to practice your Oscar-worthy “I’m so sorry, traffic was insane” performance. Relationship ended? Yes, and now your dating app bio can finally be 100% honest: “Enjoys long walks to the fridge.”

My personal favorite absurd moment was when I worked my ass off for a position at work only to have my supervisor transferred at the last moment. Then the new supervisor decides to bring in his own team leaving me out of the running. Reader, I laughed so hard I cried. Then I cried so hard I laughed. The circle of life, sponsored by absurdity.

Humor doesn’t deny the darkness; it turns the lights on and starts making shadow puppets. Bills? Death? The slow heat-death of the universe? All excellent material. As the late great Terry Pratchett said, “Funny thing about light – even when it’s really dark, you only need a little to see by.” And humor can provide that light.

So next time life hands you a cosmic lemon, skip the lemonade stand. Squeeze that bad boy straight into the void’s eye, add vodka, and toast to the joke we’re all in on. Because if nothing matters, then you’re free to matter exactly as much as you damn well please, and laughter makes it all go a bit easier, again what’s the alternative? Frustration, anger, self pity? That goes no where good.

The meaning of life according to Douglas Adams in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy might be 42, but the meaning of your life can be whatever punchline makes you snort coffee out your nose.

Have you figured out yet that there is no plan? It’s all the great game of life. Play it however you want. Might I suggest that laughing your way through it is much better than the alternatives. You are the actor, director and writer of the script of your own life.

So go write a good one!