Did you take a multi vitamin today? Exercise? Drink eight glasses of water? Those things are all okay, but laughter is the best medicine.
When your life is nothing to laugh about, that's when you need to more than ever.
When you can't change a thing, laugh at it. Because you can change yourself.
The worst that can happen is death, and that's not so bad if you think about it.
With more Americans than ever suffering from depression, we should find a way to laugh every day, just to make sure we're okay.
If you manage to live long, laugh lines look better in old age than worry lines.
Laugh until you cry if you can. It's good for your eyes.
Laugh with your children. It sets a good precedent.
Laugh at yourself. You'll never get in trouble for it, and it might get you out of trouble.
Laugh from your belly. Deep deep laughter changes your biochemistry.
Don't hide your laughter. It's contagious. If you're lucky, a good outbreak will come back to reinfect you again and again.
Without laughter, the tedium of an opulent life can become unbearable. With it, even the homeless can embrace a new day.
I don't envy the lifestyles of others, nor curse my own. There are happy people at every economic level. And miserable ones.
I envy those I see laughing in hospitals, at funerals, alongside the disabled, in their moments of personal failure, when others would call it inappropriate. They know the secret of life.
The brain shuts down under stress and blocks out bad memories. But good ones take up permanent residence in our minds, no matter how scarce.
I think lives are accounted in laughter. In the hours that we smile. In the joy we give to others.
I wonder how mine adds up.
Existential depression is a real and common problem for intellectually gifted people. I've wondered why humans bother to keep living. I've thoughtfully considered the reasons that keep me from driving to a bridge and jumping off. I've driven down the road enumerating the reasons that I should go home and not just keep driving until I run out of gas somewhere. When I go too long without humor, when I get hung up on painful repetitive thoughts about my life, when I get tired to the core of my being. I know it's time to start laughing again...by force if necessary.
To be clear, my life isn't that bad, so I know those thoughts are unreasonable and probably generated by hormonal imbalances. Hormones can affect our behavior, but changing our behavior can also affect our hormones.
I might be crazy. I can't afford the psychologist bills to find out for sure, much less their pharmacological solutions. I pay for Netflix and high speed internet, so I can turn on a standup comic until I start laughing again. I force myself to be a hugger. I surf comedy web sites. I force myself out of my hole and back into the realm of the living. It's worked so far. I laughed again today.
Parenting isn't easy. Marriage isn't easy. Life isn't easy. But if you can laugh every day, it's not as hard.
I suspect my experience is not as uncommon as it feels from the inside. If you're having trouble finding a reason to go home, if you go for days without laughing, if you're worried that you're suffering from depression but not sure it's serious or can't afford to find out for sure, you can start to help yourself by taking your laughter seriously. I can't give medical advice, and doctors will tell you to seek professional help right away. I don't disagree, but I know very well that it's not always possible. But laughter is not the exclusive provenance of doctors. You can always take more. There's no risk of overdose.
Ask your spouse or close friend to keep track if you've laughed every day. Don't keep your struggles to yourself. Then, go out and deliberately look for what's funny. Try to get it in as early as you can in your day. Notice how it affects you overall. Put funny pictures on your desktop, and in your screensaver, and by your mirrors. Let your kids draw funny pictures on your windows with dry erase markers. (Those always make me smile and are easy to wipe clean and change.) Set an hourly timer on your phone with an outrageous ringtone that will catch everyone's attention and make them laugh so you can catch their laughter. (I set my text tone to a Wilhelm scream because I get a lot of texts.) Before long that tone will make you laugh even when no one is around.
It's not a perfect solution, but it's a cheap one, and simple to implement. It may not be easy at first, but nothing worthwhile ever is. If you still find yourself thinking of ways to end your life, if you think them out all the way through, tell someone immediately. If they don't take it seriously, tell another someone. If you have no one to tell you can call the suicide prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255. Depression is not your fault. It happens to people in every area of society. It can't hurt your plans to put it off for one more day and try reaching out to someone.
If you've never had a problem with depression, laugh more anyway. It's good for your heart, and you never know who might be sitting near you that needs it.
When your life is nothing to laugh about, that's when you need to more than ever.
When you can't change a thing, laugh at it. Because you can change yourself.
The worst that can happen is death, and that's not so bad if you think about it.
With more Americans than ever suffering from depression, we should find a way to laugh every day, just to make sure we're okay.
If you manage to live long, laugh lines look better in old age than worry lines.
Laugh until you cry if you can. It's good for your eyes.
Laugh with your children. It sets a good precedent.
Laugh at yourself. You'll never get in trouble for it, and it might get you out of trouble.
Laugh from your belly. Deep deep laughter changes your biochemistry.
Don't hide your laughter. It's contagious. If you're lucky, a good outbreak will come back to reinfect you again and again.
Without laughter, the tedium of an opulent life can become unbearable. With it, even the homeless can embrace a new day.
I don't envy the lifestyles of others, nor curse my own. There are happy people at every economic level. And miserable ones.
I envy those I see laughing in hospitals, at funerals, alongside the disabled, in their moments of personal failure, when others would call it inappropriate. They know the secret of life.
The brain shuts down under stress and blocks out bad memories. But good ones take up permanent residence in our minds, no matter how scarce.
I think lives are accounted in laughter. In the hours that we smile. In the joy we give to others.
I wonder how mine adds up.
Existential depression is a real and common problem for intellectually gifted people. I've wondered why humans bother to keep living. I've thoughtfully considered the reasons that keep me from driving to a bridge and jumping off. I've driven down the road enumerating the reasons that I should go home and not just keep driving until I run out of gas somewhere. When I go too long without humor, when I get hung up on painful repetitive thoughts about my life, when I get tired to the core of my being. I know it's time to start laughing again...by force if necessary.
To be clear, my life isn't that bad, so I know those thoughts are unreasonable and probably generated by hormonal imbalances. Hormones can affect our behavior, but changing our behavior can also affect our hormones.
I might be crazy. I can't afford the psychologist bills to find out for sure, much less their pharmacological solutions. I pay for Netflix and high speed internet, so I can turn on a standup comic until I start laughing again. I force myself to be a hugger. I surf comedy web sites. I force myself out of my hole and back into the realm of the living. It's worked so far. I laughed again today.
Parenting isn't easy. Marriage isn't easy. Life isn't easy. But if you can laugh every day, it's not as hard.
I suspect my experience is not as uncommon as it feels from the inside. If you're having trouble finding a reason to go home, if you go for days without laughing, if you're worried that you're suffering from depression but not sure it's serious or can't afford to find out for sure, you can start to help yourself by taking your laughter seriously. I can't give medical advice, and doctors will tell you to seek professional help right away. I don't disagree, but I know very well that it's not always possible. But laughter is not the exclusive provenance of doctors. You can always take more. There's no risk of overdose.
Ask your spouse or close friend to keep track if you've laughed every day. Don't keep your struggles to yourself. Then, go out and deliberately look for what's funny. Try to get it in as early as you can in your day. Notice how it affects you overall. Put funny pictures on your desktop, and in your screensaver, and by your mirrors. Let your kids draw funny pictures on your windows with dry erase markers. (Those always make me smile and are easy to wipe clean and change.) Set an hourly timer on your phone with an outrageous ringtone that will catch everyone's attention and make them laugh so you can catch their laughter. (I set my text tone to a Wilhelm scream because I get a lot of texts.) Before long that tone will make you laugh even when no one is around.
It's not a perfect solution, but it's a cheap one, and simple to implement. It may not be easy at first, but nothing worthwhile ever is. If you still find yourself thinking of ways to end your life, if you think them out all the way through, tell someone immediately. If they don't take it seriously, tell another someone. If you have no one to tell you can call the suicide prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255. Depression is not your fault. It happens to people in every area of society. It can't hurt your plans to put it off for one more day and try reaching out to someone.
If you've never had a problem with depression, laugh more anyway. It's good for your heart, and you never know who might be sitting near you that needs it.
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