Last night, sitting down to write was mentally taxing. I finished posting and found myself exhausted. There was a pit in my stomach and I wanted to crawl into bed. Instead, I stayed up into the wee hours of the night chatting with someone who made me feel instantly better. Sometimes, when I’m not feeling my best, it’s as simple as making me laugh to get me back on track.
I love to laugh. I love to make people laugh, and I love when people make me laugh. Fortunately, I live with, work with and hang with a gaggle full of funny.
Tonight is the last night my girls are sleeping in our house. My oldest is in tears. My youngest is unfazed. I have to try and relate to each. To address the needs of each tonight, I started with something sentimental, and ended with funny. I always defer to funny.
Life is so serious. I often avoid turning on the news at night not because I don’t want to an informed world citizen. It’s because the majority of it is really sad. I don’t need any more negative in my life. I need positive. And I need funny.
When it’s not readily available, I look for ways to create it. Last night, we ran our monthly lottery in our Boston office to win access to a parking pass for a month. Rather than just pull a name out of a hat and email out the winner, I taped Gianna as she selected the name. And she was funny in those fourteen seconds. It was a quick, simple way to make the mundane just a little more memorable.
We do this with the made up holiday we celebrate in May honoring a piece of cloth. With the drawing game we created that we play after dinner, and with the singing chicken birthday card my daughter and my father sent back and forth to each other for years. We find ways to do it on a daily basis.
Life can get so heavy if you choose to focus on that lens. I have had plenty of heavy in my life. I like to swing the balance in the other direction with ridiculousness. It is what helps me cope. It is what helps me manage through the difficult times. Mostly, however, it is what makes life more enjoyable to me. Why choose to cry when you can choose laughter instead?
Today we had a little incident in our office that required that I step up and play “HR Lady.” Those who know me well know I recoil when asked to do this. So rather than play hardass and approach it from a policy standpoint, I did it the only way I am comfortable with. I crafted the message to be shared as direct and to the point veiled in a whole lot of humor. Somehow this style works in the environments I choose to work. I would likely be fired for it if I worked in a publicly traded Fortune 500 company. I’m ok with that. I play to my strengths.
I am exceptionally grateful that I have surrounded myself with people who make me laugh. From the guy on my team who makes it his mission every morning to crack me up, to my daughter who I am convinced is Chris Rock trapped in an 11 year old girl’s body, to my ability to laugh at myself on a daily basis…I need this.
Clowns may scare the s*it out of me, but I love the real life ones in my life. ESPECIALLY during the tough days. It’s the best healing there is.
