Apply a Humor Mindset to Chill Out

🙏🏽 Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Adult life – work, parenting, cleaning, cooking, commuting – can feel like Groundhog Day, a hamster in a wheel, or another sad marmot that does the same thing over and over.

To break the cycle of monotony I use humor. Comedy performing and writing is the balm to my banal, and also a way of life.

Approaching experiences and challenges through a humorous lens rewires my brain. Humor unlocks my patterned thinking and helps me view situations from a fresh angle.

Also, laughter releases endorphins and increases our oxygen intake for our very necessary organs like heart and lungs and FEELS GREAT and RELIEVES STRESS!

Humor is a fabulous tool to make life more joyful, and also to help you and your team approach workplace challenges.

Check out how some Departments of Transportation in states like Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Iowa have used humor in highway signs to promote safe driving…

"Texting & driving? Oh cell no!”

I’d LOL if I saw this. (Though I’m too middle aged to try to drive and text at the same time. I can’t even walk and text.)

Richard A. Davey, the president of New York City Transit, said that humorous safety messages can “break through the noise.”

Some officials differ on whether these signs are effective or confusing, but either way I applaud their creativity and risk-taking to change harmful driving behavior.

In this month’s One+One newsletter, I share a 10-15 min creative writing exercise to practice using humor to cut through the noise and destress.

Sign up here to get this exercise and more free resources and exercises each month.

(Unless I procrastinate, in which case I’ll send it bimonthly and you’ll have forgotten all about it and it’ll be a delightful surprise in your inbox!)