The personality trait that I think is the most telling about who people are would be whether or not people can laugh at themselves. That’s a huge red flag for me for a bunch of reasons:
- They take themselves way too seriously. Everyone does goofy things and should be able to acknowledge that they do goofy things.
- They often appear to be silently judging the ones around them who are open with their off moments.
- They lack a sense of humor. If someone can share a funny thing they did and laugh about it, the world would be a happier place.
- They seem reluctant to connect with others. I really do think that these moments you have to laugh at yourself create a sense of unity. No matter how “original” you think you are, someone has done or knows someone who has done the exact same thing. Leaned too far into an unfamiliar water fountain before you push the button, only to get a face full of water? Done that, several times actually. Tripped over nothing and did a weird stutter step to recover? Yup, do that all the time actually. Walked upon a snake or other strange animal and did a weird back the hell up dance after being startled? That’s one of my favorites and no one even saw it happen!
No one needs to share the most mortifying thing that ever happened to them with complete strangers. But nearly everyone has had some random clothing mishap, stumbled while walking in front of people, misspoke in a group of people, thought a song was saying one thing and discovered you actually had no idea what they lyrics really are, or other random, typically human things. We are all sometimes clumsy, forgetful, goofy humans on this planet so why pretend you’re so serious that you must be perfect?
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