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When You Need To Laugh

Monika Getty

The world and news is full of doom, gloom and scary stuff, especially right now. It's so easy to get sucked into it, to fear every person and what they might have, to be afraid for ourselves and our loved ones. While it's good to be aware of what's going on around us, too much of this kind of information can either make you numb to it or overly anxious. People I know are either completely scared or scoffing that "it's not as bad as they make it out." I think those that are not scared of this pandemic and think things will go back to the way it was are fooling themselves; I honestly think nothing will ever be the same again. Things and people we took for granted we won't be taking for granted anymore. All this makes me sometimes want to hide in my house and have a good cry.


There's nothing wrong with having a good cry; it can help to get those emotions out, can lower blood pressure, soothe our psyche and keeps our eyes healthy. But sometimes we have to look beyond the negative for something that can make us laugh instead. Laughter can also lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, reduces stress hormone levels, works out your abs, triggers the release of endorphins, improves the immune system, helps your cardiovascular system, burns calories, improves mood and much more. So when we feel weighted down and want to cry, let yourself have a cry, then try to look for something to make you laugh.


For some reason a lot of things that make people laugh fall into the category of "schadenfreude". Schadenfreude is a German word that translates to "deriving pleasure from another person's misfortune." Think America's Funniest Home Videos or all those videos on Youtube; it's usually videos of people doing something stupid and hurting themselves, which makes people laugh. Sure, it can be funny, but I prefer finding something more innocently funny that doesn't involve people doing dumb things like jumping off a roof drunk onto a collapsible table (what's up with that?) or doing "challenges" like eating extremely hot peppers and filming the results. So I've looked around for a few things that I hope will bring a smile to your face and hopefully cause you to laugh as well.






Quarantined With Hairstylist (he must really love her!)






Calvin & Hobbes (love them!)




I'm sure there's many more out there, so let me know which ones you go to or things you do when you need to laugh! Hope you are all keeping healthy, safe and well.



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