Laughter Is The Shortest Distance Between Two People.

My favorite people are funny people. And they don’t need to be stand up comedy funny. Sneaky funny people are DEFINITELY my favorite. Those. THOSE people are my people. The unsuspecting quiet ones where they may say something discreet that you really have to pay attention to that make me laugh harder than anyone. 

One of my favorite quotes is, “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.”

I was a very quiet kid growing up. I sat back and observed quite a bit. Human behavior has always been fascinating to me (and hilarious). So much so, I double majored in Psychology and Communication in college, because figuring out people energized me. It still does.  

Depending on the situation, I can very much still be that quiet kid. Sitting back and observing. Put me in an environment where others feel uncomfortable or shy and all I want to do is make them feel more at ease. I think because I am generally an uncomfortable person and internally feel awkward 99.9% of the time, I know how it feels. 

I am an uncomfortable person, because people as a whole, scare the shit out of me. Vicious pitbulls? I’ll cuddle up to them all day long. People? Terrifying. 

I mean, obviously, I can be around people. My job is people and the irony is I love my job and I love helping people. Some actually have told me I’m good with people!

 JOKE’S ON THEM! YOU ALL GIVE ME HIVES.

Just kidding. Kind of.

In my head, I see myself perpetually age 14, with bad hair and absolutely zero sense of style. I think deep down, there’s part of all of us that will always be that awkward uncomfortable kid in junior high.

But now it’s more of a, “God, don’t you wish you could go back, give yourself a hug and be like ‘hang in there, girl… you got this….'” 

(I mean, I may or may not have that same pep talk with myself DAILY and then I make a really ugly face in the mirror and laugh at myself. I can’t be the only one who does this. Right? RIGHT?! Ok…moving on… see? inner dialogue won’t quit).

I’ve harnessed that awkward kid quite a bit and now it’s just full out making fun of myself knowing that everyone feels like that from time to time – I imagine even when I’m elderly, she’ll still be there.   

I came out of my shell more in high school and even more so in college. I don’t ever remember being funny growing up. For some reason when I got to college, I feel like I found my people. People who made me laugh and people who somehow I made laugh. 

Apparently, I am funny. I never knew that about myself. Sharing my inner dialogue with people, shockingly, brought a lot of laughs and some amazing friends. The more I shared with people, the more we laughed. I find laughter or making fun of myself or situations helps ease my anxiety, especially in social situations, but the added and surprise benefit is the positive energy it creates, because perhaps it’s easing others’ anxiety, as well and making their 14 year old self feel a less awkward too.