The Importance of Laughter

"Laughter is the best medicine."

That five-word phrase right there has been something that has come up often in my short twenty years here on Planet Earth.  It's been said by people around me, I've seen it used in various forms of media, and I've even used it a few times in general conversation, on the radio, and over text message. It's a phrase that has stuck with me all my life, even now as I find myself going through multiple tough personal battles and situations.

It all started back at home when my mother was the determined one to make the best out of every situation.  If we accidentally missed the trolley back across I-35 and had to walk from Canal Park to the Duluth Depot, or had to find another way home after getting lost, there was definitely laughter involved.  Through both the easy and hard times of my childhood, we kept things going with humor, and always found a way to make the best of things.

Ever since then, I've always had an appreciation for laughter and a good joke, when I can actually tell it's a joke that is.  Friends who can make me laugh are considered some of the best friends in my eyes.  It's almost like we need it to survive, which to me seems pretty accurate with the fact that we have so many different types of comedy and music associated with laughter.  From stand up to big screen comedy films, there's a lot of different things we can focus our attention on to laugh, from an early 20th Century Charlie Chaplin film to recent television series such as The End of the F**king World and The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale.

Laughter is a prioritized emotion in my mind.  Either I'm in a bad mood and need something or someone to make me smile, or I'm the one in a good mood trying to help someone in a bad mood put a smile on their face and laugh away their negative feelings.  It's not always something I succeed at, but I always give it my best shot.  Though I haven't been actually deemed "funny" too many times, I find that to be something that doesn't matter.  The one gag in the writing or ad-libbing that cracks people up the most is what puts a smile on my face and gives me a sense of accomplishment. 

I've used laughter to get through the best of times and the worst of times.  From death, to changing schools, to moving, laughter has always helped.  It doesn't always come right away, but it wiggles it's way in eventually through a meme, a one-liner from a friend or a co-worker, or even a You Tube video.  If I find myself feeling down, watching/looking at something funny or talking to someone who's sense of humor can improve my mood at least a little bit and temporarily pull me away from my mental health problems while I laugh at and then process the content that made me laugh.

My mother often asks nowadays when I take a trip home "Did you know it takes more energy to frown than to smile?"  The honest answer when I first heard it was no, so I find it a great thing to keep in the back of my head as I go about my days at work or in a studio.  I feel that this line right here makes laughter all the more important of a trait to have, as we're straining ourselves more when we frown instead of smile.  Depression and anxiety have made it harder to laugh, but you can still catch me laughing at the loudest volume possible if something that I find funny comes across the television.

So take it from me.  Laughter truly is the best medicine.  Find ways to interject it into your life.  Learn to laugh more often at even the toughest of situations, and I think you can find yourself feeling better in no time.  Use the negative energy it takes to frown to do something constructive and flip that frown upside down like a pancake that didn't cook properly on one side.  Our happiness is on the line, so join me in cackling and guffawing all the while as we go about through this funny thing called life.  We'll all be better off from it in the end.