Laughter Heals the Broken

Laughter has been an integral part of my life. My best memories are often the ones where I am laughing and building my relationships through funny times. I thrive off of this type of energy, so when people make me laugh, I tend to take a liking towards them. I think this has helped me pick great friends and strengthen my relationships within my family. They always know how to make me laugh when I need it most. But, most importantly, I think laughing has brought me closer to people I would never have expected it from. It helps break the awkward silence in situations, and allows new connections to be formed. Sometimes, it even helps bring the old connections back, even if it is just for a few moments.

During my junior year, I had a falling out with one of my close friends. It was never anything malicious, just one of those things where priorities and values didn’t line up anymore. After everything had happened between us, I would see her in the halls or in class and we wouldn’t say a word to each other. Neither of us wanted to address the situation, but rather keep it out of our sight. I think this was honestly the worst decision for us, because instead of being civil towards one another, we began to resent each other. What was once a civil end to a friendship, grew into fights and arguments that neither of us really wanted. It was hard for us to just avoid one another though, because we practically had every class together.

Eventually things began to cool down between her and I, but not without a little effort and laughter. We would be talking in class with our peers and someone would make a joke, and we would all laugh. It was like old times; until we stopped laughing. The tension would come back, and the awkwardness between us would also return. But, as we slowly had more conversations where laughter was involved, we slowly started to shift our mood towards one another.

There was one day in particular where our relationship with one another took a huge shift in the right direction. As we were sitting in Raider Connection we began to talk about America’s Got Talent. Random, yes. But, little did we know how much this conversation full of laughter would bring us to the ‘old days’ and mend are broken friendship. We brought up the famous Golden Buzzer Acts and how they always seemed to be some sort of sob story. We laughed about what our ‘sob story’ would be and made up the stupidest ideas of how we would try to get the golden buzzer. “Golden Buzzer!” we would yell over and over again. With each new ‘sob story’ brought more laughter. The most ridiculous things we could think of, we said. Our laughter grew so strong that by the time the period was over we were all had tears rolling down our faces. Even walking to our next class, we continued to laugh uncontrollably in the hallway. Once we split up and went to our classes, I reflected on the moment her and I just had. It was like old times, but actually this time. Not just a facade, but genuine laughter. It felt refreshing to take a step towards our friendship again.

In the following days our interactions no longer felt tense. They felt like how the used to be; relaxed. Laughter had brought us together, and mended our relationship. Now, don’t get me wrong there was a lot that had to lead up to this moment. But, our silly little joke about a ‘golden buzzer’ diluted our tension, and helped heal our friendship.

Now when someone makes me laugh, or vise versa, my eyes are opened to a new opportunity. An opportunity to build or rebuild relationships. It’s funny how much laughter can do for people as a whole. It break barriers and opens new doors. I am so thankful that laughter has helped shape my life the way it is today, and I hope it will continue to do the same for years to come.

“and laughed… alot” by circulating is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

“GOLDEN Buzzer – Asre Jadid” by Alliii77 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.