Breaking My Ribs Taught Me How Important Humor Is

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All of my friends have some part of their body that was broken at least once. Arms, legs, fingers, toes, ears–you name it.

Me? Until recently, none. So, when somebody would tell their story about how they funnily had broken something, I used to think, “Wow, so cool that they can talk about this painful experience with humor. I wonder if I would do the same.”

As it turns out, yes. I guess that’s the way our brain works–we laugh at moderately bad things happening to us so we can process them better. And we cry about serious things because we can’t process them.

Even more interesting is that we attach meaning to these events, looking for the slightest changes in our lives they brought about. I think it’s called retrospective positive thinking…. Just kidding. I have no idea if there is a term for that, but I like mine. You can even abbreviate it. RPT. Sounds quite cool.

This last summer, I broke two ribs on a single day (thank god in one go), and, by far, it was the most painful experience in my life.

I was not supposed to break anything on that day. The weather was perfect, so I took my cruiser board for a ride in the park and then downtown in the morning. Everything was under my control. I felt the sun shining on my face, the deck under my feet, and the breeze…