Here’s How Humour Can Make Us Feel Better

This post is written by By Dan Rowland, Mr. Inappropriate

We’re not designed to live this way

We haven’t changed much physically or genetically in the last hundred thousand years.  Back then, life was much simpler, all we needed to think about was what to fuck or eat, how to avoid being fucked or eaten, where to sleep or have a poo.

Now we are expected to deal with our jobs, credit cards, loan payments, 7 different types of insurance, mortgage, hundreds of emails, fixing the wobbly toilet, looking good, car problems, gardening, broken dishwasher, complicated relationships and everything else.

To quickly process all this despite not having progressed much since the time when all we did was live in a field with a goat.

Our mental and emotional engines are on the rev limiter all day every day, with only brief moments of respite when we’re on holiday or at the weekend.

Focus and perspective

One skill we have learned over the years is to be good at focus which leads to problems with prioritisation and perspective.

When something is closer to us it seems bigger than it really is, I don’t mean physical things, I mean the things we focus our attention on.

You must have noticed this yourself: whether it’s the document you’re writing, the shoelace that’s a bit too short or the turd on the windscreen – at the time they all seem like much more of a big deal than they really are.

It makes sense that we’ve evolved to be like this, we’ve needed the skill of focus to be able to survive and reproduce, but it doesn’t always serve us now.

Because there is always something that demands our attention, it puts us in a place where we never actually see the elements of our lives with any sort of well-balanced perspective.

Instead, we’re switching from one over-inflated problem to the next.

While struggling to cope with everything life throws at us (as mentioned earlier) having our attention constantly pulled from one ‘important’ thing to the next makes it hard for us to take a moment to just be. To just experience life as it really is.

Ooh please don’t offend me

If obsessively focussing on our inflated problems which we’re ill-equipped to cope with is not enough, we have a new problem: we are no longer allowed to relax and be ourselves for fear of offending someone.

So we have to keep our guard up and pretend to conform, while at the same time worrying about our problems and coping with everyday life.

So it’s hard, there is no respite, and it leaves us feeling anxious and tired.

No surprise that we can’t cope.

Humour

Sometimes all we need is a little kindness and a moment to giggle.

A moment to forget about all of that crap (because that’s what it is).

To be whoever we are and have a moment of genuinely not giving a fuck.

To figuratively sit back and see everything from a distance, allowing the natural balance to settle.

To see the turd on the windscreen for what it is and simply be scrape it off with someone else’s credit card.

Who am I?

I am Dan Rowland! Over the last twenty years, I’ve worked for a number of large IT departments and have spent a lot of time with many people.

And the same thought keeps coming to me:

Why does everyone seem to think this work stuff is so important?

Why do they think that the report they’re writing, or the server they’re fixing is such a big deal?

Why do they get so stressed about it?

It’s because it’s what they’re doing at that moment, which makes it seem much more important than it really is.

How do we have a break from that?

Have a good giggle and feel the calm that it brings.  Plus, the more we do that the better we get at switching from switching from stress mode to calm mode.

We all need that sort of break, a holiday from the everyday plop we have to deal with.

What about Mr. Inappropriate?

Although on the surface, Mr. Inappropriate is just an online store that funny / rude birthday cards and gifts, in many ways it is different to the rest.

First, the sort of humour is a bit more creative and intelligent, have a look for yourself, you’ll get the idea.

Also, I make sure that I communicate with every customer personally and reply to every email personally. You can see from that reviews that people really like this and it makes them feel as though they have bought from a real person, which is very much true.

The other main thing that differentiates this store from anything else is the email list. When you sign up you get a very kind and friendly introduction from me, inviting the you to reply to the email. When you do you get a unique ‘magic number’ from me which gives you a chance of winning one of three prizes for that month.

These giveaways are done every month and anyone who replies to any of my emails gets a magic number for that month.

Also, once you have signed up you receive one true story per week that I have written about something that happened to me. Examples of these are why I shat in my shoe in Aldi car park, how to wash your balls at work, and the case of the mysterious stolen turd. In all there are nearly a hundred stories (so far).

I get a lot of replies to these emails; people really seem to love them, and along with my replies this really makes them feel part of something.

I also invite everyone to write their own stories which are sometimes added to the sequence which makes them feel even more involved in something.

And then there is the Facebook group and page which only adds to this.

I have received numerous emails from people telling me how much they look forward to my emails and how much they cheer them up, and even a couple of people telling me that they work even better than the antidepressant medication they are on!

I am genuinely determined to help people get a break from the everyday crap, have a giggle and feel part of something whether or not they actually buy something from me. Sign up to the email list and you’ll see what I mean.

If you have any questions about the service I provide just contact me via dan@mrinappropriate.co.uk, 01138730688 or the chat thing at the bottom of mrinappropriate.co.uk.

A couple of reviews:

These reviews can be seen on the reviews page:

“Dan makes you feel like you’re ordering from a friend. Very quick delivery and great customer service!” – Sarah F.

“Very good customer service. Quick efficient and good quality stuff. Great to see some unique stuff you can’t get anywhere else will definitely be my go to now.” – Christopher Tanton.

“Brought several cards from Dan recently and as usual great service. Brilliant products and quick delivery.” – Vanessa Layton.

“Excellent communication from Dan, confirming everything we needed to know about the product and shipping. Quick delivery. Great packaging and excellent product. We will be keeping an eye on this seller to see what else he brings out, because he has the same sense of humour as us. Thank you Dan.” – Jillian Brownsell.

“From the easy ordering, great choice of fun and original gifts, extremely reasonable prices and excellent customer service, I truly cannot recommend Mr Inappropriate highly enough. Thank you very much for a great experience. Will definitely use again.” – Kathryn Howard.

Featured Image by freepik