How To Break Down Stress And Build Up Resilience One Laugh At A Time

“First the doctor told me the good news: I was going to have a disease named after me.” ― Steve Martin

Have you ever been in a really stressful situation and all you could do was laugh? 

Hopefully it didn’t include having a disease named after you.

I’m fairly sure Martin’s joke doesn’t involve a real person. It is a bit dark - as was Martin in his early days. However, it illustrates how humor can alleviate even the most dire of situations. 

Not only has laughter been scientifically proven to improve your physical and mental state, it’s a valuable resource in times of stress or struggle.

The last few years have provided a lot of these!

Letting go and laughing also helps to build up personal resilience - an invaluable skill and quality in times of crisis, chaos or unexpected change.

In addition to stress reduction and increased resilience, it leaves you more open to events and people around you.

It’s also contagious. Give someone a big smile and see what comes back.

DailyOM founder Madisyn Taylor encourages us to share it:

“Laughter is good medicine, and we all have this medicine available to us...We magnify the effects of this medicine when we share it with the people in our lives.”

Break Down Stress, Build Up Resilience

There are moments when you can laugh. Even in times of disappointment or worse.

There’s no reason you have to be serious all the time. In fact, moments of laughter and levity can help you weather stormy weather.

"During our journey, we can become very serious - it's important to remember to have fun along the way", Ms. Taylor reminds us.

A few years ago I was taking part in the first block of an intensive certification course in Zurich. I knew only one other participant. Casually. The topic was therapy-based, not business. The language was German. Needless to say, I was out of my comfort zone. BIG TIME.

During a group discussion on the afternoon of day 2, the teacher/therapist told a story about once going out of his way to help extract a woman from an abusive relationship only to have her quit therapy soon after. Apparently, she did not appreciate his good deed.

I don’t know if it was the way he told the story or the fact that his patient’s actions were ironically absurd, I began to laugh. And couldn't stop. Didn't want to, either. It was like getting reacquainted with a good friend. 

I didn’t realize it at the time but I was letting off stream. Decompressing. From the travel effort to get there to exerting myself to understand and be understood, the previous day and a half had been highly stressful. My laughter broke down my stress; more importantly, it opened me up to profound learning for the rest of the course.

That afternoon in Zurich I made two big realizations about myself - 

1. Humor is a must-have element for my learning.

2. Humor builds up my resilience so that I can handle stressful situations. 

After that experience I made the decision that if what I was doing didn't cause some element of joy or give me the ability to occasionally laugh, it simply wasn't worth it.

The Joy Of Performance

In doing extensive research for High Performance Habits, best-selling author Brendon Burchard found a direct correlation between joy and performance:

"It turns out that joy, more than anything else, is what gives them capital ‘E’ Energy. If you feel joy, your mind, body and emotional reality all get a lift." Incidentally, Energy is one of his top 6 habits.

When it comes to joy, "They don't wait for joy to land on them, they bring it."

To my knowledge, there's no better way to embrace joy than to allow yourself a big, long, healthy laugh.

In our culture, we tend to value hard work and seriousness. In all the busyness and serious business, we forget to pay attention to the equally important light side of joy and laughter.

Of course, it’s also important to allow ourselves to be serious and honor that side of ourselves so that we stay balanced.  Moreover, it’s important to be sensitive of those that have felt real pain and loss as a result of negative events. Like the recent pandemic.

Take Action Today

If you’re a fan of Mad Men you probably have an opinion on Roger Sterling’s value to his firm. Say what you will about the silver fox, he knew how to laugh in the face of bad news.

We never find out why he is laughing here but it doesn’t matter. It got him through that stressful day.

A little laughter can help you through tough times too. So don't suppress a laugh when you feel it coming.

To better embrace humor for increased resilience, drop me a note or schedule a a time to chat.

How does humor and laughter help you in your work?

How could you be less serious and have more fun?