Funhouse Mirrors

Surviving trauma, crisis, and illness is painfully hard work. So much of your life suddenly takes on great weight. You can get lost in the seriousness of it all. It can be destructive  and very negative. It is not easy to survive in such unhealthy pressures.

Like a funhouse mirror, you need to change your perspective. Alter the view.

Make room for creativity. Make space for joy. Make time for fun and silliness.
Laugh. Smile. Be ridiculous. Throw decorum to the wing. Let light in when you can.

You have to take the time to be yourself again. Do something very un-serious to remind you to be you. De-stress yourself. Be childish. Remember what it is like to be fun.

Dress up in a surreal costume. Dress your dog up. Put on a silly hat. Put on a moronic outfit. Jump in the ocean in your clothes. Jump on your bed. Wear mascara and eyeliner like David Bowie. Rock out. Sing into a spoon like it's a microphone. Hold a bottle of shampoo up and recite your Oscar acceptance speech in the bathroom mirror. Laugh with a friend over something just plain stupid. Skip to your loo. Waltz with Matilda. Anything not anchored in the seriousness.

Do something lighthearted every day to alter the heavier seriousness. Even if just for one minute.
Even when you hurt. Even when you are sad. Even when you are scared. Even when you are tired. Even when you don't feel like smiling.

Random moments of light push back amazing amounts of darkness. Giggles heal a lot more of your soul than you think. Sometimes even one smile is enough to give you the strength to keep going.

Surviving is serious, but life is too short not to laugh.