Take Yourself Lightly
Fibromyalgia (FM) is not a laughing matter – but maybe it should be. While the illness itself is a serious subject, dwelling on how miserable you feel serves no purpose except to make you feel worse. I once had a t-shirt that said, “Angels fly because they take themselves lightly.” Take a lesson from the angels and learn to take yourself lightly. FM certainly offers you many opportunities to practice laughing at yourself. Relating the fibro-fog experiences alone could keep an audience rolling on the floor. I’ll bet you can share a “cloudy” moment when you put the milk in the cabinet or your car keys in the freezer. What is important is how you react to those experiences. You can cry and get depressed about your increasing forgetfulness or laugh at your silly mistake and feel better. It is your choice. Here are some “observations” to help you start seeing the funny side of FM.
- Everything hurts – and what doesn’t hurt, doesn’t work.
- You feel like the morning after but you didn’t have a night before.
- Your little black book contains only names ending in M.D.
- You get confused playing checkers.
- You finally have all the answers but you forgot what the questions were.
- You look forward to a dull evening.
- You sit in a rocking chair and can’t get it going.
- After painting the town red, you have to take a nap before applying the second coat.
- Your back goes out more often than you do.
- You consider a discussion of bowel problems interesting conversation.
- You know what’s on TV at 3:00 a.m.
- Dialing long distance wears you out.
- You stop to think and forget to start again.
- You find yourself smiling at this list.
How can you bring more laughter into your life? Taking yourself lightly will put a smile on your face and give you an emotional boost, but to kick the healing effects of laughter into high gear, you need some out-loud, double-over laughter.
The first step is to find out what makes you laugh. Not everyone responds the same way to humorous material. While one person may find the Three Stooges hilarious, another may think they are silly and childish. You may crack-up watching Saturday Night Live while your neighbor finds it offensive. Do you like physical humor like slapstick or do you prefer relationship humor like Friends? Or maybe dry humor tickles your funny bone. Think about what makes you laugh out loud, then set out to incorporate that kind humor into your daily life.
