#11 Don't forget to laugh
Clearly we all need a bit of cheering up right now - the news is very depressing and we are stuck in our own houses forced to come up with creative ways to amuse ourselves! Whatever the circumstances, life is just too short to take ourselves too seriously all of the time.
What we need is more LAUGHTER in our lives. For me, there is nothing better than having a laugh, whether it’s a fit of the giggles or the type of belly laughter which brings tears to your eyes.
Laughing is proven to be good for our well-being, not only does it just make us feel better - there are scientific benefits including:
Relieves physical tension
Decreases stress hormones and offsets the impact of mental stress
Increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies
Laughter is also the glue of good relationships – we all know how often GSOH appears as one of the traits we look for in a partner. Laughing together and sharing the same sense of humour is a way that humans bond with each other. It is also contagious so if we are in the company of funny people, it lifts our mood. I consider myself extremely lucky to have some very funny people in my life.
I searched for TED talks on the topic of laughter and this was my favourite - it talks about the importance of humour and how ‘getting’ jokes within our community give us a sense of belonging.
Of course we don’t all find the same things funny. There are lots of different types of humour; slapstick, satire, dark humour. Lots of things make me laugh so I thought I would share a few:
The film Airplane - makes me cry with laughter every time i watch it even though I know the script verbatim
Comedy sketches - one of my favourites is Ventriloquist by Tim Vine
Talking absolute nonsense with my best friends (they are the best tonic for any low mood, full stop.) Even if we can’t physically spend time together, our shared WhatsApp group has me in stitches
Dilbert cartoons
Laurel and Hardy (particularly the scene when they are in a sleeper cabin on the train putting each others trousers on)
Browsing through funny cards in card shops (and all too often buying them just for myself) although you can’t do this one during a lockdown though obviously!
Being silly - like crazy dancing when nobody is watching….. in my kitchen…. on my own or acting like a child again (the photo above is me swinging on a makeshift swing I found in the woods once I managed to get onto it - which made me laugh a lot)
Let’s try to keep our sense of humour even in trying times as a bit of a laugh really can make a difference.
“‘The best way to cheer yourself up is to try and cheer someone else up’ ”
““Laughter connects you with people. It’s almost impossible to maintain any kind of distance or any sense of social hierarchy when you’re just howling with laughter. Laugher is a force for democracy’”
