[In this COMMUNICATES series just know you are the Main Character.]

In the COMMUNICATES Happily Ever After, the sixth component we’re going to explore is Not Funny.

If you’re into reading or telling stories you know that the main characters can encounter some people who try to add humor to help lighten the mood or help bleak situations (comic relief characters). Sometimes the main characters are the ones who do their best to add humor to the situations as they go through their journey.

Encountering different people and situations isn’t always easy and so you, as the main character, will undoubtedly have situations where it might be you or someone else who wants to lighten up the mood, but does so in the wrong way with an inappropriate comment or poor timing.

That is just part of the human experience.

What do you do when the attempt to lighten up the mood goes all wrong?

You know the attempt to lighten up the mood or situation goes wrong when someone says something like, “That’s not funny” or “Oh, you think this is funny? Because I don’t.”

Magic phrases that will lead to happily ever after…

 

Magic phrase: That joke fell flat.

It’s that simple. When someone says something that is not funny or tries to be funny, but the joke didn’t work on you because, let’s say, it felt like the person was picking on you in a mean way. Then at that point you can simply say, “that joke fell flat.”

You’re not directing the phrase at the person, rather you’re directing it at the joke not being funny and it not working for you and therefore you’re not going to give a reaction.

If the person asks you why it isn’t funny or makes comments such as “you’re being too sensitive” or “you can’t take a joke,” simply repeat the phrase “that joke fell flat” and leave it at that.

As a main character in your story, you can choose what is funny or not to you and whether what was said was a joke or an insult.

You can choose to fight back with an insult of your own or instead you can use the magic phrase when something was said was not funny.

That will lead you toward your happily ever after.