Did you know you can lower your stress with humor?
I used to work in a restaurant kitchen. The owner KNEW how she wanted her kitchen run!
She caused big stress for some of the kitchen employees. She didn’t mean it, I’m sure, but she sure could do it.
At least once a month, one of the women who worked in Minnie’s restaurant kitchen went home in tears.
It was Minnie’s kitchen and Minnie knew how it was supposed to run.
It probably didn’t help that Minnie also used to be a drill sergeant in the army. Well, at least, it didn’t help us.
So, one day Minnie was yelling (again.) “You girls is so slow,” or maybe it was, “You girls is so sloppy!” (It was always one of the two.)
And the other kitchen worker had left already, in tears.
And I said (with a big smile), “Minnie, if we work neat, you say: You girls is so slow. And if we work fast, you say: You girls is so sloppy.”
Then we just looked at each other for about a minute, and Minnie started to laugh. She knew it was true. I guess it never hit her before.
When someone causes us stress, it is because we allow it to feel stressful.
You need to know that you have choices. Sometimes your options are good, sometimes not so good, like when you need the job, so you really cannot quit (at least not yet.)
In the meantime, until we can actually make changes, if we need to, we can reframe or rephrase things in our mind. Play with your thoughts. Change things around to make yourself feel better and to see the humor in a situation.
Here is a thought that has helped me a lot over the years.
“She is doing the best she can–with what she has to work with!”
“He did the best he could–with what he had to work with!”
That little, sassy phrase at the end of the sentence makes me smile every time. Because it doesn’t sound bad, but I know what I really mean on the inside: “She really doesn’t have a lot to work with, does she?”
And sometimes I even have used it for myself! “I’m doing the best I can–with what I have to work with.” 🙂 By the way, that’s a good way to forgive yourself.
Or, as I learned from some women friends from the south: “God bless her heart, she sure is dumb.”
But, you aren’t.
When you have every day run-of-the-mill stress figure out how to see humor.
Sarcasm or mean words aren’t ever funny but you can use a simple little phrase that only YOU know what it really means.
And smile when you think of your funny phrase–smiling is a great instant facelift!
I would love to know how you use humor or laughter to get rid of stress naturally. You are invited to leave your funny stuff here in the Comments.
