Laughter is the best medicine.

I like to laugh.  If I had to be serious all the time, I know I'd go insane. A sense of humour is so important to how you view life.  When you have a sense of humour, you can get through anything.  I know this from experience. 

Last year I went through a pretty bad bout of depression.  I'd never gone through anything like that before, and I hope not to go through anything like that again.  It started the day I lost my job due to the company downsizing.  Eventhough I knew it wasn't anything I did (my bosses made sure I knew they'd keep me if they could), it still affected me.  I didn't cry or become severely withdrawn like you would expect.  I went completely numb.  That was back in December of 2006.  I thought once the shock wore off my feelings would return, but they didn't.  For 7 months I went through life feeling nothing.  I tried to talk to someone outside my family about it (see post on forgiveness), and instead of helping me, the person tried to demonize me and separate me from my family. To make a long story short, I withdrew from my family, found solace in the computer, and hit bottom at the end of July.  It was then that my husband had had enough and stepped in. Although the tactics he used weren't the best (he agrees with me on this now), he refused to give up on me, told the Pastor who was trying to separate us to stay out of our lives, and prevented me from hurting myself.  Over time, and with my husband's help, I began to heal, and to feel again.  It was tough. There were a lot of things I hadn't dealt with that came out, but through it all, I slowly began to see the humour in even the most dark situations.  I started to laugh again, and found that it's impossible to be depressed when you laugh at yourself. 

I honestly don't know how people survive without a sense of humour.  When there is no joy in life, I can see why people feel it isn't worth living.  But life is worth it.  Take it from someone who went through the darkness, and came out laughing.