Bloganuary Day 7.

Hi there,

This one is a little more personal than the rest.

Of all the things I’m known for, the ones who truly know me know of my infectious laughter. It’s that belly bottom, feel-good, loud, raucous and tear jerking type of laughter. As in, I will laugh until tears start to flow and sometimes I laugh to the point where breathing feels like a bit of a struggle.

Why do I laugh? Well, the simple answer is that shit’s funny to me. What makes me laugh? Well, literally anything that falls under the “silly” category.

Please note that “silly” is so vast that it ranges between (1) the ridiculously unfunny matters that require laughter (or else it’s war); and (2) the actual funny, nonsensical matters that warrants laughter where you fall on the ground and roll.

Laughing in the face of stupidness

So, in Jamaica, we say, “if mi nuh laugh, mahguh cry”. That loosely translates to, “if I don’t laugh, I’m gonna cry and in some cases get angry”. So, when I’m I’m on the brink of breaking everything, I laugh it off. In those cases, laughter is a tool used to quell the situations of a potential crime scene.

Essentially, if I’m disrespected and I can’t be bothered with a crime scene reaction, I laugh at the perpetrator and the situation. If someone is being ridiculous, I laugh. If I hear silly foolishness, I laugh. My mom has told me that I need to temper when, where and how I laugh. However, it’s hard for me to control the urge to laugh.

Laughing cause shit’s funny

Laughter is also the best medicine there is. I’ve known of people to say that laughter releases endorphins that makes you even more at peace and happy with life. It’s in those happy moments that the laughter is sweet.

When situations are actually hilarious, I get to laughing with type of laugh that will make others laugh. It’s loud and I can work up real sweat if the laugh session is done well. I’ve laughed till I feel like I was in the gym working on my abdominal area.

Though my laughter isn’t always loud, it gets the message across. You know how facial expressions and body language depicts a message? Well, my laughter and its variations have their own language and its easily understood. I say this because the laughter, facial expressions and body language work together in unison. Its a sight to behold, actually.

Laughter additions

Another thing I must add is that I know how to laugh at myself. Unfortunately, however, sometimes me laughing at myself and my misfortunes lead to me actually crying real tears. I’ve been in situations that triggered my anxiety and I started to laugh- because if I don’t laugh I’m gonna cry – then it turns into knitted eyebrows and then my eyes start to sweat and then I start hyperventilating, crying, laughing and eventually it may lead to shrieks. 😂🤣

Some may call it being dramatic. I call it being true to who I am as The Suburban Girl JA.

Lessons in laughter

As I said, laughter is the best medicine. I can recall moments when I writhed in pain and then I get a joke. I kid you not, It felt like I laughed the pain away.

Laughter also gives your face muscles a break, eh. It also gives your face some exercise. That’s not a bad thing though. Some people’s face need that jolt of exercise cause its stuck in one place.

Don’t take my word for it though. I did some reading at VeryWell Mind .

They said that the benefits of laughter are far-ranging. Studies show that laughter can help relieve pain, bring greater happiness and increase immunity. The people over at VeryWell Mind even go as far as to say that it’s unfortunate that most people don’t laugh nearly enough as they ought to.

One study suggests that healthy children may laugh as much as 400 times a day while adults tend to laugh only 15 times per day.

– VeryWell Mind

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s sad.

Another source, The Mayo Clinic, says that a good laugh has many great health benefits. These include:

– it soothes tension

– it activates and relieves your stress response

– it stimulates many organs by way of enhancing the intake of oxygen-rich air to stimulate the heart, lungs and muscles. This then increases endorphins that are released in your brain.

The staff over at the Mayo Clinic delves deeper into long term benefits of laughter and having a sense of humor, but this blog post isn’t about to go into all that.

I will say, though, that Positive Psychology says that the ability to laugh and have a sense of humour are among the 24 main signature strengths a person can have. That’s pretty cool.

The world can be a sad soul-sucking place. We need more joy and laughter. This is especially true in this day where we have COVID-19 and it’s variants and mutations, war, famine , a climate crisis and many more sad inducing situations.

I leave you with this – laugh more and relax your face. Laughing is part of self-care. Add it to your routine and preserve your mental health.

Signed with love…and laughter,

The Suburban Girl JA