My word for 2026 is silly. I want to be less of a serious goose. I’m trying.
We had out-of-town guests stay with us recently. One night, we went into Chicago, had lunch at Eataly, went to the Chicago Magic Lounge, and stayed overnight in a hotel. I had leftovers from lunch, but the mini fridge in our room didn’t work. Would that pork cutlet still be good in the morning? The germophobes would say no. The frugal faction would say it was worth a shot.
We got back home the next day. We were having cocktails in the backyard and one of our friends asked, “By the way, whatever happened to your leftovers?”
“In my suitcase,” I said, and burst out laughing. So much for my excellent memory.
New research suggests that if you can find humor in the moment, if you can laugh at yourself, you’ll be seen as warmer, more relatable, and surprisingly, more competent. Who knew?
We all do things that are embarrassing. We spill our water at a restaurant. We mistakenly wave at a stranger, thinking we know her. We slip on the ice and dramatically windmill our arms before landing on our butt. We can cringe and still be red-faced five minutes (five hours?) later. Or we can laugh at ourselves.
Part of the study (published in February 2026 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) found that people observing thought the embarrassed person’s reaction was out of proportion to what is seen as an everyday blunder. Laughing at oneself showed the person understood the mistake was trivial.
Of course, it’s all about proportion. Laughing at ourselves when we trip and bump into a stranger who then falls and breaks their arm isn’t appropriate.
But for trivial things where we’re the only victim? Remember that most people judge our mistakes less harshly than we judge ourselves. Shifting the dynamic by laughing allows other people to laugh with you.
And that’s a good thing. Especially if you want to be less of a serious goose.
