Laughing saved me
May 23, 2021 Uncategorized 0 comment gsamson21
I’m sure my teacher grading this is familiar with how the start of this story happened. It was my junior Winter Carnival at my school and that day we had an assembly where each class would perform a dance and be judged on it. To fast-forward things this was a way out of my comfort zone, but I signed up to do it and as the assembly was a few moments away I passed out. I was so stressed and filled with anxiety and fear that I couldn’t eat or think straight.
The next day I woke up and wasn’t the same person I was the day before. When I was a child I had terrible anxiety that I eventually grew out of and in a short way of describing it I relapsed. To this day I now struggle with anxiety and I’m nowhere near the way I used to be because of what happened that day.
This made going to a friend’s house feel like I was about to go do a public speech in front of hundreds of people. When I got there just a small laugh after someone cracked a joke reassured me and snapped me out of extreme anxiousness. Laughing is one of the ways that help me bounce back after having my anxiety come back then being locked away in quarantine with nothing but fear pumped out by the media. While in quarantine, I played video games with friends and there wasn’t a second where intrusive thoughts could battle the good laughs I had with the boys. Laughing was one of the only treatments for the constant fear I was undergoing.
The chemical effects of laughter can actually cause happiness. When you laugh endorphins are released in the brain, therefore where this recently directly helped me was on the bus for away games. My teammates would always make me laugh and I would forget about anxiety and start enjoying the ride. The psychological effects of laughter have definitely helped me recover and seek some peace of mind. Laughter was a vital part of my recovery.
My journey is nowhere near the end but I will be laughing along the way with strangers, friends, and family. From start, the start of the accident a good laugh was the only thing that could get me out of a mindset of fear. Laughing has played a role in turning me into the person I am now and will continue to help me grow.
