I just read an article about a guy who

controls his tourettes syndrome by doing stand up comedy – I always thought stand-up comedy ENCOURAGED people to cuss. But the article mentioned that this guy has gained self-confidence and educated people on the disease at the same time.

So what is it

about you that you can use for the stage? You don’t have something noticeable like Tourettes to talk about. . . maybe you have weird fears like the fear of swimming in the middle of the ocean and having a gigantic ocean liner pull up alongside you (okay, that’s one of mine) or you can even make up some little known phobia that you can pretend to have (it’s comedy remember? All doesn’t have to be true).

If you google

phobias you’ll find a list of about 100. . .obscure ones like Cleptophobia which is the fear of stealing . . .good to know if you’re dating a cleptomaniac, or Cyberphobia which is an excellent excuse for calling in sick to work because it is the fear of computers or working on a computer.

Aside from

phobias, do you have any family history of obscure diseases, mental conditions, neurological disorders and other things that might lend themselves to humor. One quick note though . . . be careful when you joke about some of this stuff. If you’re not a member of the “club” by having the condition, or someone in your family having it, then you might want to stay away poking fun at it unless you do it gently – like you could probably safely talk about Tourettes, even if you don’t have it, IF instead of making fun of the person who has it, you make fun of the people who make fun of people with Tourettes. . . Weird phobias are pretty open targets because they are, well, weird. If you pick one that no one knows about, chances are you won’t offend anyone. Turn your idiosyncrasies into comedy and you can help heal yourself! Jan   www.TheWorkLady.com www.HealthComedian.com