by Guest Author Carol McClain
The last chapter of 2020 closed a few days ago, but not without promising us more heartache in 2021. Our pandemic hasn’t finished with us, and we will find more grief and hardship for many more months.
Now, aren’t you glad you decided to read this blog piece?
But my prognostication comes with hope.
Find the humor.
The very act of smiling—even a fake smile—can change your mood. Go on and give it a try. We’re all in quarantine, so no one can see you grinning when you don’t want to (unless you have your Zoom video running. PLEASE, always remember, if your camera is on, colleagues can see what you’re wearing or not wearing).
For me, humor has been my mechanism for coping. A big zit on my nose? I don’t hide it with a burqa. I tell myself, “Own it, Carol. Make it work for you.” Or I ask for Ms. Pimple for rent. I recently read a cartoon that made me laugh. It is hilarious for this ex-pat New Yorker and the jab at the mighty Empire State’s governor.
According to the Mayo Clinic, laughter has the following benefits:
1. Cachinnation stimulates many organs.
2. Chuckling activates and relieves your stress response.
3. Mirth releases tension.
4. Hilarity improves your immune system (Take that, COVID-19!).
5. Got pain? Get snickering. Pain will flee (or escape my escapades in the thesaurus, or my poet’s penchant for alliteration).
6. Glee increases personal satisfaction.
7. And proving my initial point, guffawing improves your mood.
Don’t take my word for it. Check out the article.
If you don’t trust the Mayo Clinic, do a concordance check on your favorite version of Scripture.
So, here’s my shameless self-promotion. Skip this portion if you have no interest in considering my book (or you don’t mind breaking my heart). All my writing, even when dealing with intense subjects such as child slavery, drug addiction or loss, is always dosed with humor. People return to me time and again and speak how my book made them laugh (even after they cried).
This week, I’ve re-released an old book now called The Perils of Cheryl. It’s a LOL novel about divorce, dating, and the divine. One reader said her husband repeatedly asked her what was so funny as she snorted and chortled in bed reading the novel.
Once more: Don’t take my word for it. Check out The Perils of Cheryl
Also, don’t take my word about humor being biblical. Here’s another reference from Proverbs.
“She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come” (Pr. 31:25).
To find out more about Carol McClain visit: carolmcclain.com. Aside from laughing, signing up for my email makes me happy.
Happier still is the purchase of The Perils of Cheryl.
You can connect with McClain on Facebook at: facebook.com/author.Carol.McClain
On twitter and Instagram: @carol_mcclain
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
McClain writes novels about the
redemption of the unredeemable. Even her most serious works are laced with
humor. She is a consummate encourager, and no matter what your faith might look
like, you will find compassion, humor and wisdom in her complexly layered, but
ultimately readable work.
She is a past president of ACFW
Knoxville and its current treasurer/secretary. She facilitates Postmark
Writers, an offshoot of the LaFollette Art Group. She teaches online courses
and is a clinical supervisor for WGU.
In addition to the above, she’s
served on the Board of Connections to Recovery, an organization dedicated to
keeping addicts sober. She’s mentored recovering addicts, and at one time, had
been a foster mother–the complexity and difficulty of that calling proved she
was better off writing about it than performing it.
(Is there nothing she can’t do?)
Aside from writing, she’s a skilled
stained-glass artist, and a budding potter.
She lives in Tennessee with her
husband, kitties, and Springer spaniel, and soon will own a passel of Nigerian
Dwarf goats.
