Keep it Light

To me, one of the absolute key components of creating a fulfilling life is surrounding yourself with people who make you laugh. It is one of the main characteristics that you will find in anyone close to me. Laughter has gotten me through the toughest times in my life. There are few feelings as wonderful as releasing all the rough parts of your day through some quality moments of hilarity.

My first year of college was a rough one as the transition to living independently was challenging for me. There were some pretty tough days to get through during that experience. My freshman year roommate was crucial to my survival that year. We used to come home from our days and compete for the title of who actually had the worst day. We had incredibly entertaining stories that probably weren’t hilarious when you looked at them through sane eyes, but our sharing and laughing was imperative to never quitting and moving on to a somewhat stable sophomore year.

“Anne, I failed my midterm” -Lisa

“No really, what’d you get…?” -Anne

“An F”  -Lisa

“Oh.” -Anne

Of course I am a huge proponent of serious education, so don’t get me wrong that I am saying it’s OK to fail a midterm. But I was in uncharted territory back then and it was all part of my overall learning and growing experience. I was stepping out of who I was always disciplined to be and seeing what it was like on the other side. I didn’t stay there for long, but constant seriousness for long periods of time always ends up with a little healthy rebellion.

There have been countless mornings of talking to my best friend via phone on my way to work where we have turned work situations that were utterly maddening into the most entertaining fodder for hysterics. One of my favorites was finding a grasshopper on the dashboard of my car where the two of us proceeded to legitimately discuss if he was there to enjoy my hip hop musical selections for the day or perhaps was there for some other purpose. I made her google if grasshoppers like music as a serious question. Dialogue below:

I could go on and on with similar tales and believe me there are plenty of good stories for future blogs that you can look forward to. No matter how tough your days get, remember to surround yourself with those who can keep it all in perspective with a good laugh.