Laughter Matters

Shortly after college, I went through a period where I only watched dramatic movies. I can’t recall why I lost interest in comedies and rom-coms. Perhaps it’s because indie films and dramas made me feel more interesting some how.

During this phase, I was living in Atlanta and had become good friends with a co-worker named Heather. I remember her wanting to go see The Hangover. I was on fence at first, then she said something like, “sometimes, I just need to laugh, you know?” I went with her. After all, laughter sounded good, but a little foreign to me in this context. Sure enough, I hadn’t laughed that hard in forever.

It took me some time to realize that laughter is a wonderful thing. Seeing The Hangover was the catalyst for learning to appreciate this type of joy.

The past couple of weeks have felt pretty hard, and when I was texting with a friend about it, she said that it’s times like these where you have to stop and recognize the beauty around you. At first, I cynically thought, “what beauty?” Then I remembered, I had laughter.

So I tried to relax a bit. I turned on fun things on Netflix (please watch The Great British Baking Show). I played with my cat Harlow more and turned on a magical yule log recording of this precious cat named Lil BUB in my office. I made a commitment to stop over thinking things, and instead tried to be in the moment more.

So again, laughter pulled me out of my funk—it’s the best medicine.

 

 

 

 

 

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