It's a centuries-old question everyone has. How can I be funny? How can I become the one that everyone remembers as the humorous one, the one that brightens up their day? What if I told you that I have the answer. The key that will unlock the world of humor for you, forever.

I realized, around the age of 12, that I had a knack for making people laugh. Hearing laughter from other people and myself was another form of music to my ears. It was my form of medicine. While most people try to comfort others by saying nice things or complimenting them, I use laughter as my medicine. Making people laugh lets them forget their pain and their troubles for a while. It's not like the person is running away from their problems, but more of the fact that they're just taking a break from the moment. Sometimes, people will tell me that they start laughing the moment I walk into a room, even if I haven't said anything. Why was that?

It was because they remembered.

They remembered all the times I had said silly things that made them laugh and expected that the moment I walked into the room and opened my mouth, I would say something else that was funny or sarcastic. They remembered all the stories I had told them, and when we met again the next time, they would randomly burst out laughing in disbelief at the fact that I had been in that situation I had originally told them about. Sometimes, it left me in disbelief that people would start laughing, out of nowhere, at something I said weeks ago.

So I wondered.

What made laughter so effective, and why is it that so few people have a grasp of using comedy?

And I found the answer. What I had been doing, subconsciously, all my teenage years that allowed me to make other people laugh and smile, and why many people don't know how to create laughter without suffering through the awful cricket chirping silence was because of this one thing.

Self-deprecation.

I know, it sounds like a pretty harsh word. Self-deprecation is basically a form criticism against yourself. Picking at your flaws, being modest about what you have — that's self-deprecation. And self-deprecation is the key to being funny. Making fun of yourself, out loud, in front of others? There's no other way to get a louder laugh than bullying yourself. But self-deprecation is a complex process when you apply it to comedy as well as psychology.

Most people believe that self-deprecation can cause someone to become insecure and depressed. That's where things become a little complicated. In order to take advantage of self-deprecation, you need to be fully aware of your flaws and fully comfortable with the fact that you're not perfect, and you never will be. It's not like a person, who has mastered the arts of self-deprecation in the world of comedy, doesn't want to better themselves or aim for perfection, but the person is conscious of their current flaws. So instead of drowning in their insecurities, they take advantage of them, and find the light side of them.

It's in the human nature for people to laugh at others when they are going through pain. It sounds terrible when it's put like that, but it's true. When you see your friend trip and fall, the first reaction is always laughter, followed by an "OMG are you okay?" and continuous giggling as you make sure your friend is alright. The same thing goes with a person's flaws. And that's what comedians do. We think to ourselves, 'Yeah, I'm pretty bad at doing blah blah blah, and I'm even worse at blah blah blah. But hey, that's who I am, so I might as well take an advantage of the things I'm bad at.'

Humans are known to be egotistical, stubborn and insecure. That's what makes the so-called "secret" to being funny, well, a "secret." But it's really not a secret at all. It's just people don't want to admit that they're imperfect or that they have some things that they're bad at. If you take a look at even professional comedians, their biggest laughs come from their personal stories and their personal mistakes. Surprisingly, it's something I mastered at a young age.

I don't care what someone thinks of my mistakes, and I use those mistakes and stories to make others laugh.

I know that I'm not the perfect person, and even though I have goals like any other regular person, there will always be something I'm bad at. So I might as well use it to make someone else's day a little better.

At the end of the day, the basic answer to this question that runs through everyone's minds some point in their lifetime is to stop getting hurt about the smallest things. If you know you have a flaw or are untalented in some areas, don't fall into the traps of self-pity. Accept the fact that you're imperfect and use those things to create laughter. Self-deprecation is key. Use your self-criticism to make you conscious of the fact that even though you have these flaws, it doesn't make you less of a human. Laugh at yourself. Let others laugh at you. That's the beauty of comedy; during that one moment when everyone is laughing, it's all perfect. No one is worrying about anything. Your imperfections can bring some happiness into this world; it's just a matter of how you view your imperfections.