When is the last time you laughed?

Everyone should ask themselves… when is the last time I laughed?

I’m not talking about a little smirk or a polite chuckle.

When is the last time that you laughed so hard that you cried, or you laughed so loud that people could hear you from a mile away? When did you last throw your head back and get so caught up in laughter that you lost track of the present time?

Some people don’t laugh. They don’t like that feeling of being out of control — even for two seconds.

They groan and roll their eyes while they watch others around them laughing. They call these people childish and out of touch.

Laughing doesn’t mean that you don’t have an ounce of sadness inside of you. It doesn’t mean that you’re turning a blind eye to the injustices in the world. It doesn’t even mean that you’re happy.

If I don’t laugh, I’ll cry…

To laugh, means to lose control for a moment, and just feel. We laugh out of confusion, out of exhaustion, and sometimes out of anger and rage. Indeed, laughter can feel like a short state of delirium, in which you think — what the heck is going on right now!?

Does something have to be funny in order to laugh? What does “funny” even mean? Usually, it means silly and unexpected. We don’t laugh at the mundane. We laugh at the things that distort our perception of reality — for better or worse.

Laughing is a form of feeling. Holding in laughter means denying your feelings — and that can range from anything to happiness, confusion, anger, or depression. There are no words or logic to your laughter — just feeling. You’re feeling the moment.

Laughing is really not so different than crying. They are two sides of the same coin. Both are states of emotions in which you lose control. But society labels one as positive and the other as negative. Truthfully, they can both be positive things. But sometimes they are both labeled as negative things.

Both laughing and crying releases dopamine. They are survival techniques for self-soothing in moments of anxiety or panic.

Crying is important — you should always give yourself space to cry. But if I had to choose one or the other, especially if I’m out in public, I’d much rather laugh.

I’m the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral…

You see a lot of kids laughing, and then they grow up, and many of them stop laughing. Many of us were shamed to hide from laughter. It’s “impolite,” it’s “rude,” it’s “unserious.”

But I think, personally, that laughing is a gift — and more of us should do it. Laughing is contagious too.

Some of us are taking life too seriously. I get it, life is a heavy thing. Trust me, I get it. But don’t you ever need a break from that heaviness — even just for two seconds?

How many inappropriate moments when I wanted to burst out laughing but I had to hold it in? Not necessarily because this is “funny” but because I was uncomfortable and anxious.

Hey, maybe this is funny. Maybe this situation is so ridiculous that it’s funny. Maybe I’m so uncomfortable that this is hysterical. What’s wrong with that?

I’m gonna laugh. And I’d like others to join me!