Again, nothing funny about trauma. It is the laughter in our lives that help us process some of our trauma. Sometimes we can even laugh at certain elements of our circumstances that help us to move through the trauma. Be creative. Find what works for you.
Feeling safe has been the biggest factor for me to be able to laugh about the trauma and the effects it has had on my chronic illness. Friendships that are authentic create a space for healthy laughing. Those who are close to you know you well. As the years of chronic illness progress, you will have opportunities to test the waters. They may or may not know of the traumatic experiences that have touched your life. Opening up enough to friends allows us to find a special space of safety that we can laugh at ourselves.
Find safe friends and family so you can laugh without judgment. I have noticed that a lot of times, my laughter has not always been fitting for the moment but with close friends, it made no difference. Their friendship, with enough knowledge of the situation, allowed me to work my way through this.
Same with friends and clients I have had that had unusually timed laughter due to trauma. Things can just strike people so odd at times that we laugh, therefore making it completely appropriate whether others understand or not. At some point, it all just has to be okay.
There are enough dark moments. So when we find something oddly funny, laugh!
Trauma along with chronic disease can be a wild ride. Lyme Disease is a disease that has so many complexities that it makes one’s head spin. It affects almost every aspect of the human body and certainly complicates every relationship. That opens the door to much laughter. In that respect, I am glad that is the disease that has plagued my body since early childhood. Might as well laugh at the wild ride that takes place.
I have actually found “A Little Lyme Laughter” group of all things. There are SO many things to laugh at when you have Lyme Disease.
My women’s Lyme group also adds some laughter from time to time. The last round of posts that created humor was on the question, “Name one thing that has been said to you about YOUR Lyme Disease.” Those of us with Lyme have the oddest things said to us. We cannot all be educated about all diseases so we cannot expect others to understand. Although there was plenty of sadness in some answers, there also was a lot of humor in the lack of any common sense from so many people. Might as well laugh at it.
Finding something, anything, to laugh at sometimes helps to move our minds and emotions along. I can have very intense conversations with friends or clients and we always interject some kind of laughter. There are times that the jokes are so bad that we don’t even get them. It does not matter, it helps us to move forward instead of getting stuck.
Are you able to find ways to laugh? Do you have safe friends and family you can laugh with?
Maribeth Baxter, MBEC
Donations are accepted to serve others on their chronic illness journey. Maribeth Baxter, MBEC provides voluntary certified health coaching services to the financially limited during their time of crisis.
