Laughing at stupid Corona virus jokes - is it ok?

What makes you laugh these days? And how are you prioritizing humor as a coping mechanism in these undeniably awful times?

Finding ways to laugh is a high priority on my menu of self-care options - and that can look different on different days.

Yesterday I bought COVID joke greeting cards. Some sweet, some snarky, some in extremely poor taste. I spent more money than I would care to admit, and probably bought more than I will actually send.

  Because they made me laugh.  

 And who couldn’t use some laughter these days?  

But wait (I hear you say) - Is it appropriate to laugh when life is awful - when people are sick or dying, when people are going hungry, when families are under incredible stress, and when our political system is more divisive and fragile than ever? 

Yup.  Definitively yup.  Check that politically correct censor at the door and laugh inappropriately along with me.

Dark humor, stupid humor, snarky humor, morbid humor.  Stupid dad jokes. Death jokes. Pandemic jokes. I will laugh at them all.  Because sometimes that funny/not funny/laugh-so-we-don’t-cry humor may be all we’ve got.

And truly, I would rather laugh than cry right now.

“Unreasonably dark joke,” read a coronavirus meme circulating on social media last spring. “Shouldn’t we wait until after the pandemic to fill out the census?”

Hahaha.  Ouch.

“Let’s bump elbows under the mistletoe,” reads the Christmas card I am working on designing for this year.  It’s a sad acknowledgment that no, this holiday season will in no way feel normal and intimate. Funny/notfunny Christmas cards are likely to dominate the shelves this year.

Laughing at the hardships of the holidays is a way of acknowledging that yes, this holiday season is kind of gonna suck. Yet, this particular meme is SO last Spring. What would this year’s card look like for you?

Friends, we all need humor now.  In a time when so many factors are making us tense and fearful and anxious and angry, those negative emotions are taking a huge toll on our mental, physical, and spiritual health.   Humor is a potent healthy coping mechanism to offset the harms of the roughest of times. Finding humor during dark times can bring us perspective and improve our mood. Jokes help distance us (even if only briefly) from the pervasive awfulness, the 2020 anxiety and gloom - and, let’s face it, it’s fun!  

Most importantly, laughter and humor has measurable physiologic benefits on stress; the act of laughing significantly reduces the amount of cortisol, the stress hormone that causes all the physical signs of stress (rapid pulse, muscle tension, increased blood sugar and more).  The body will perceive the reduction in cortisol as a calmer and more balanced emotional state. 

Lots of humor is potty-mouthed these days. I embrace that fully.

Healthcare providers are familiar with this - we have shared gallows humor with each other as a coping mechanism since medicine became a speciality. Similarly dark humor bonds other professionals - soldiers in warfare, firefighters and police, rescue workers. It seems like callousness to outsiders, but it keeps us laughing in incredibly unfunny circumstances. Laughing keeps us warriors sane. And in this era, we are all warriors against despair.

a cute Grim Reaper?

Yes, even the Angel of Death takes time to chill out in footie pajamas under a rainbow sign.

So, humor is a powerful part of stress management. That’s a lot of benefit from a $6 greeting card! Cheaper than therapy! And shareable! If, like me, you buy more greeting cards than you ever send, then you will get that visiting a card store yesterday was the most exciting outing I would have in a time of COVID related isolation. I shared my laughter with the lovely young woman staffing the store.  We smiled together. It was great medicine for what ails me.

Seeking a GOOD LAUGH (especially one I can share) will remain high on my self-care list.

So I’m adding humor related “tasks” to my to-do list for the next few weeks: Binge watching Schitt’s Creek episodes.  Reading funny current books (Samantha Irby and David Sedaris are waiting in my on-deck circle).  Sending funny greeting cards.  And trying to squeeze in one-last pre-winter visit with the friends who reliably make me laugh.

What makes you laugh these days?  And how will you prioritize laughter in a grim year?