The Best Meds!

While going through a stressful week, it’s hard not to just crumble and break down. Usually when something happens in my life that’s not so good, I go through a depression mode. I crawl back in bed and put the covers over my head. I don’t want to face the world. Why should I? It sucks. (Well, for now anyway.) Then I think, well things could be a lot worse. The one thing that I crawled back in bed for was something so insignificant to what could have happened—or what can happen. I guess I don’t realize how fortunate I am sometimes.

Having distractions makes my life easier when I’m going through a rough time. I’ve noticed laughter is the best medicine. It’s an old saying, but a true one. A friend asked me recently what she could do to make things better for me. I told her to take me out for some beluga and champagne in a limo. She thought I said, “bologna” wrong.

“Why would anyone want to eat bologna with champagne? I don’t get it.”

In the midst of my depressed state, I started laughing so hard, I couldn’t breathe. Even though that type of laughter puts me into a fit of an anxiety and asthma attack, it helps me to forget why I was sad to begin with. So I held her captive in my basement as my court jester, eating my caviar and champagne at her expense. What a great friend she is! And she still wants to know why I would prefer bologna with my champagne.

I found that when I’m around negative or depressed people, it quickly rubs off on me. It’s a law. If you stay around a person whose angry all the time or who freaks out explosively over small things, you’ll end up taking on those traits. I totally believe in that. Years ago, I had a friend who thought the world was hell. Everyone was out to get her—she was so negative about life, it nearly consumed her. Trying to get her to laugh was like pulling teeth. And the only things that she would laugh at, were the downfalls of her enemies or if something bad happened to someone she didn’t like. Her jokes were based on pure hatred for people and most people who were in her presence were offended.

“A cheerful heart is good medicine.” ~Proverbs 17:22

Laughter has medicinal purposes. It can strengthen your immune system, lower blood pressure, reduces the amount of stress hormones and can make your physical pain seem less. Also, laughter is also known to help people lose weight. It’s like an aerobic workout and it increases your oxygen.

So if you could, try surrounding yourself with positive and funny people. Laugh more, relax more and enjoy life. Get rid of the negative folks who can bring you down and make your world seem like a nightmare.