They say that laughter is the best medicine. As someone with Type 1 Diabetes, I would say that my insulin is probably the best medicine for me.... but maybe laughter is a close second?
I don’t know of the actual validity of the efficacy of laughter, but I do know that when I have a chance to connect with others and have have a good laugh, I walk away feeling better. I have a text thread group with a few friends at work and we use it to share humorous things that happen in our lives and make silly jokes. It’s off-the-cuff and so random. No one outside of the few guys in the group would even think that we are funny (lot’s of inside jokes and jokes-in-a-joke kind of stuff), but some days it’s been exactly what I needed.
One thing Covid has really taken from us is the opportunity of random fun happing when getting together with other people. For the last year, every time I have been near another person (outside of my family) has been some kind of calculated move. There was some amount of planning or prep for every meeting or conversation; randomly seeing someone out in the world and having a conversation basically never happened in 2020.
I am an extrovert and this pandemic has wrecked me in so many ways. Being around people gives me life and recharges my batteries. For most of the last year I have only been out of the house 1-3 times a week, and those outings have been filled with tasks that needed to be accomplished while out of the house. It’s almost hard to remember what life was like to just leave and go somewhere without some kind of planning. And honestly, I miss that.
Which brings me back to laughter and humor. There is something fun about meeting people and laughing together. I need to make that a bigger priority in my life because when I am laughing and less sad. When I am laughing I am a better dad, a better husband, and a better friend.
I feel like this Covid anniversary week is all about introspection and though. What started as a “2-week stay at home order” has become a shift in the way we live, work, and engage as a society. It has not all been bad, but it has certainly not been done with much sense of purpose or motion. I find myself stuck or blocked in so many areas and I am not even sure how to even deal with those feelings. Some of them are functions of external problems, but others are just below the surface and those feelings and emotions are keeping me from moving forward.
What am I trying to say? Well, for one, I need more laughter. I need more fun. And I need more random good in my life. This year has taken so much, but I can’t let it take laughter and humor as well. So, even if I have to work to create it, I need more laughter in my life.
I don’t know of the actual validity of the efficacy of laughter, but I do know that when I have a chance to connect with others and have have a good laugh, I walk away feeling better. I have a text thread group with a few friends at work and we use it to share humorous things that happen in our lives and make silly jokes. It’s off-the-cuff and so random. No one outside of the few guys in the group would even think that we are funny (lot’s of inside jokes and jokes-in-a-joke kind of stuff), but some days it’s been exactly what I needed.
One thing Covid has really taken from us is the opportunity of random fun happing when getting together with other people. For the last year, every time I have been near another person (outside of my family) has been some kind of calculated move. There was some amount of planning or prep for every meeting or conversation; randomly seeing someone out in the world and having a conversation basically never happened in 2020.
I am an extrovert and this pandemic has wrecked me in so many ways. Being around people gives me life and recharges my batteries. For most of the last year I have only been out of the house 1-3 times a week, and those outings have been filled with tasks that needed to be accomplished while out of the house. It’s almost hard to remember what life was like to just leave and go somewhere without some kind of planning. And honestly, I miss that.
Which brings me back to laughter and humor. There is something fun about meeting people and laughing together. I need to make that a bigger priority in my life because when I am laughing and less sad. When I am laughing I am a better dad, a better husband, and a better friend.
I feel like this Covid anniversary week is all about introspection and though. What started as a “2-week stay at home order” has become a shift in the way we live, work, and engage as a society. It has not all been bad, but it has certainly not been done with much sense of purpose or motion. I find myself stuck or blocked in so many areas and I am not even sure how to even deal with those feelings. Some of them are functions of external problems, but others are just below the surface and those feelings and emotions are keeping me from moving forward.
What am I trying to say? Well, for one, I need more laughter. I need more fun. And I need more random good in my life. This year has taken so much, but I can’t let it take laughter and humor as well. So, even if I have to work to create it, I need more laughter in my life.