By Samantha Allred
When my daughter was only a few weeks old, my husband and I were both exhausted, frustrated, and struggling to adapt to our new lives as parents. One day, I began scrolling through social media and was bombarded with posts about the COVID-19 pandemic. I began to feel overwhelmed with negativity and fear until I came across a video from one of my favorite comedians. I watched the video and laughed until I cried. I felt an enormous sense of relief. Like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I physically felt like I had more energy, and I mentally felt a renewed sense of hope and motivation.
This experience taught me about the importance of laughter. Life is full of difficult circumstances that can easily take over our lives and make us feel bombarded with negativity. However, laughter is strong medicine and has the power to replace those negative feelings with hope and light. It lightens your burdens, inspires hope, and strengthens your relationships.
The goal is to find a way to incorporate humor and laughter into the fabric of your life, finding it naturally in everything. If you are struggling with this, you can start by listing what you are grateful for to help you consider the positive aspects of your life, and spending time with fun people who routinely find humor in everyday events, because laughter is contagious.
Photo by Xavier Mouton Photographie on Unsplash