Day 316 of 365 - Comic Relief

It's been a somewhat heavy week around here, with a few things happening to dampen my spirits.  (Yes, there were three, and the superstitious part of me hopes that will be it for awhile.)  First, there was the car vandalism.  Secondly, my laptop crashed, requiring the necessity of switching to another one, which is still a work in progress to transfer files.  Thirdly, the car window repair was hampered due to a faulty part.  This means that we have a window now, but cannot put it down or up.  A replacement is on the way and the car will need to go back to the shop again next week.

I don't watch much TV, and when I do, it's usually something on Netflix.  Currently, I have one uplifting series, which I parse out over time to make it last.  The others are very good, but have rather intense content which can leave me feeling troubled.

When friends were talking recently about programs they enjoy, a suggestion for one that is very funny came up.  Yes, I said, I need that!  It is an Irish series called Derry Girls, a comedy/drama about a group of teenage friends, set in the 1990's in Northern Ireland.  Although the main theme of each episode is based on a teenage melodramatic issue, there are subplots around family life, school, community and culture.  It is very irreverent, particularly in relation to the Catholic school the teens attend, and to me is quite hilarious.

When I watched it for the first time, I laughed harder than I have in a long time.  I enjoyed it so much that I watched four episodes back to back.  (Each episode is less than 30 minutes long.)

Laughter has so many benefits.  I've written about it before in another post, but it's worth repeating a few of them again.  The tension I was holding in my body by contracting around the worries of the week was released by relaxing muscles with laughing.  My stress response about the recent events was relieved.  My mood was instantly improved.

Longer term benefits of regular laughter include boosting the immune system, relieving pain, improving heart and circulatory function and increasing the likelihood of connecting with others.

Granted, there is a personal taste factor in what we find funny.  You might not like the show that makes me laugh so hard.  Fortunately, we have lots of choices.

Overall, I take life pretty seriously, and could benefit from lightening up my experience more often.  I think it's time to expand my viewing and reading repertoire to include more humor.

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