The Unexpected Power of Humor in Managing High Functioning Anxiety

Join Dr. Lisa Hartwell as she reveals why laughter might be your most overlooked tool for managing high functioning anxiety. From kid jokes to laughing yoga, discover how incorporating humor into your daily routine can transform your relationship with anxiety.

In This Episode You'll Discover:

• Why your brain craves laughter during stressful times
• How humor creates instant connection and diffuses tension
• The science behind laughter's anxiety-reducing effects
• Simple ways to incorporate more humor into your professional life
• Real stories of using humor to overcome presentation anxiety

Key Takeaways:

• Laughter releases endorphins, acting as a "reset button" for an anxious brain
• Shared humor creates powerful connecting points in professional settings
• Permission to laugh can break the cycle of constant seriousness
• Regular doses of humor can serve as a practical anxiety management tool

Practical Tools Shared:

1. The Daily Humor Toolkit
2. Meme-sharing with colleagues
3. Strategic use of humor in presentations
4. Comedy shows as stress relief
5. The "laughing yoga" phenomenon

 This Week's Challenge: Find something that makes you laugh every single day this week - whether it's a funny video, a joke, or even a silly dance in your living room. Notice how it shifts your mood and eases your anxiety.

Quotable Moment: "Humor is like a magical balm for our brains... It's really like taking a tiny little mini vacation from the chaos."

Share Your Laugh: Found something particularly hilarious? Share it with Dr. Hartwell! Leave a review or send her a message - let's create a ripple effect of positivity together.

Transcript

Aloha, everyone. It's Dr. Lisa Hartwell. Welcome to Anxiety Ease, the show that reveals a calm mind is an organized mind and an organized mind is a calm mind. We'll make it fun and inspirational with a bit of learning the neuroscience and the real reason some of us keep pushing on professionally, good or bad, at the expense of leading life with inner peace. 

Aloha, wonderful listeners. Welcome back to another episode of Anxiety ease. This is Dr. Hartwell. I am your anxiety high functioning anxiety specialist and I love helping ambitious professionals and business owners transform warm their high functioning anxiety into something powerful as an alert system for ease and calm in both your business and your personal life. 

I thought today it would be fun to chat about something that I think is incredibly important and overlooked as we try to always stay clinical and talk about brain wiring, but something that's really close to my heart because it is something that I think people forget what happens in the sessions, whether they be therapy or coaching or programs, which is really injecting humor into our lives and how effective and why this is effective in our lives to help us grow. 

I want you to really, let's just have some fun talking about how laughter can be your best buddy when dealing with high functioning anxiety. So I thought, you know what, let's start with a couple jokes. And there is nothing like kid jokes. They're so silly, but so simple and the irony. And there's something about when kids tell jokes, I don't know if you've ever noticed this, they can barely get through them because they're usually giggling because they know the punchline. I know you probably know this if you have any kids in your life at all. And some of these just kind of crack me up. And I thought, okay, well this one's timely. 

Why was the politician out of breath? He was running for office. LOL!

And then of course I had to do this one because of my orchard metaphors, which is what did the tree say to the wind? Leave me alone. Haha!

I should have gotten some symbols, huh? Some drums or this one is a little bit more funny. And this one cracks me up just because we recently had our parent first parent teacher conference of the year. And whenever you hear, your kids explain something this, it's humorous and you have to keep a straight face because they're so serious about it because it makes sense in their head. 

And this one I found is so funny about a four year old explaining creation and God making creation and creating the earth. If that is what your belief system is. And what cracks me up about it is it sounds like our son who is 14 now and he still does this, where he'll start in explaining things that make so much sense in his head. And all you do is you're sitting there thinking how funny the explanation is.

 I also think this is timely because of what is being told to us, of what is allowed to be shared in the school. So that's why I thought this was funny too. 

So anyway, in the beginning, which was close to the start, there wasn't anything except God, darkness and some gas. The Bible says the Lord thy God is one, but I think he has too much. He has to be much older than that. Anyway, God made the world and then said, hey, give me some light. And somebody gave it to him. He split Adam and then he made Eve. Adam and Eve didn't wear any clothes, but they weren't embarrassed because God hadn't invented mirrors yet. Adam and Eve sinned by eating one bad apple and they were driven out of the Garden of Eden. 

Not sure what God drove them in though, because he hadn't invented cars yet either. Adam and Eve's son Cain hated his brother as long as he was able. After a while, all of the first people died except Selah, excuse me, who live to be like, oh, million years old or so.

It's just so funny because it just goes around and around in circles, right? But when you think about it, when you're at work juggling a million tasks, deadlines, meetings, anything that's looming over your head at some point just feels super heavy, right? Your mind's racing faster than a Cheetah on espresso shot. 

And what if I told you that a good laugh could be the secret to ease the anxiety and the overwhelm that you feel? 

Let's kind of break it down a little bit. Humor is like a magical balm for our brains. When we laugh, our brain actually releases endorphins. And those feel good chemicals that make us feel like we're on top of the world. It's really like taking a tiny little mini vacation from the chaos. And really, who doesn't need that? 

I remember one time, which has happened a lot, when I've done a lot of presentations in my life workshops and otherwise in teaching. And I don't tend to rehearse too much before because I have my slides or my outline as a presentation framework, and it really just provides me some guardrails and structure. 

I do a lot of storytelling when I'm teaching. And I have to tell you, though, every single time, I do get just a little tapping on my shoulder about that initial anxiety that hits when all eyes are on you, right? And there are times when, you know, I feel like I have to take a moment and take a breath. 

This one particular time that I'm thinking of. One of my colleagues was in the audience, and she saw me because she knows me so well, and she actually, in that moment, she sent me a really funny meme about work stress and presenting, up at the podium. And it popped up on my phone, and I couldn't help but laugh. 

And in that moment, I just sort of relaxed, and it literally was like hitting the reset button for my brain. Everything all of a sudden just seemed manageable, less overwhelming, less sort of on the spot. And I felt instantly more connected to everybody in the room. 

And sometimes it's easier in those kind of situations, especially if you're nervous, is to go ahead and engage in some sort of joke that isn't, you know, offensive or anything at the talk at the start of your routine. Because if everybody is laughing collectively, and even if it's just about irony, it's really creating a connection. It's creating connecting points within the folks that you're with so you can move forward. And immediately when that happens, that is an antidote to anxiety. 

The first way that you can incorporate humor into your daily routine now, not just like you have a actual event, is really giving yourself permission to laugh. Honestly, it sounds simple, but sometimes we get so caught up in being serious professionals that we forget to let loose. And, you know, I think it's okay to laugh at yourself, especially at the absurdity of a situation or even a silly joke. And I would have to say that during my sessions, during my coaching sessions and therapy sessions, and even with teaching, I use humor a lot. 

People think a lot of times when, you know, they coming to talk about something serious, that's very true. They forget how much we're laughing actually when we're together. And many, many times it's because about the irony of life. And when you can see the same irony or frankly, the same sarcasm or the same absurdities, that's just that. That's what it's about. It's about that connection, the connection with the other person using a different type of communication skill that happens to be about humor. 

I have one really good friend. And what we do a lot is throughout the week, we send funny memes to each other in our Instagram messenger accounts and we'll just DM each other. Mostly they're about dogs or animals of some sort, but sometimes it's about other things. And it just is like that really quick second of infusion of relaxation because you find yourself laughing at the same thing. Not to mention she's since moved away from the islands and so she's in another state now. So it's just that instant moment of being feeling connected to her. And I think it's just such a neat way to really have a different level of communication that might not be necessarily related to anxiety, but it's really like this quick timeout. 

Another thing would be, watching comedy shows. Now that's something that my husband and I do because we have a couple of shows that we have the same type of humor and we both get a kick out of it. And it's really, honestly, when you're watching it together and you're laughing at the same thing, it is about diffusing everything else and just kind of melts away the stress. 

I don't know if you've ever been in a group before, but I know our son is happens to be part of the scouts. And you know, the boys are really funny how they just think their jokes are so funny, yet, you know, that is something that they do when they're either camping or, you know, they get together and they're weekly meetings and stuff.

But really when you think about it, it's because everyone develops this sort of humor toolkit, don't they? And you have to learn to use your toolkit and whatever the tool it is in the moment. And when high functioning anxiety strikes, pull out a joke or a funny video and just let the laughter flow. It's immediate diffusion, it's immediate endorphins, it's immediate brain chemistry at work to work in your favor, you know, connecting with others. When you're open to laughing, you really create this environment where others feel comfortable about doing the same. 

It's like this ripple effect of positivity. And it's really about, you know, maybe you have a little bit of anxiety or social anxiety when it comes to meeting and networking with other folks. And you know, just think about it as a another tool for you to build stronger professional relationships. 

I was doing some research and looking up some different ideas about humor with anxiety. And there's this thing out there that's funny is it's called laughing yoga. And I never heard of that before, but I guess you basically gather a group and you just start laughing. And I was watching this video and it looks so ridiculous and you can tell people are like a little bit awkward, but pretty soon it's actually authentic contagious laughter that takes over this group, the collective, and you can't help but laugh with or at them. And you what you notice when you're observing that it's really must be a fantastic way to release tension and really bond with others. I just thought that was so funny.

I just thought this was just a, you know, just a quick reminder that there is not everything is always about a treatment plan and structure and frameworks. And sometimes it's something as simple as just infusing in humor as your ally in your journey with high functioning anxiety. It's the light that can cut through the fog at certain times of your day or your life. So go ahead and embrace it, cultivate it, and let it be your partner in navigating your professional life and your world.

And you know, here's a little challenge for you. Find something that makes you laugh every day this week. It could be a funny video, a joke, or even a silly dance in your living room. Just be silly and I want you to notice how it shifts your mood and eases your anxiety. Find something particularly hilarious. 

Hey, share it with me. I'd love to laugh along with you. You can message me anytime you want, email me, leave a review on my podcast here, and let's laugh together!

You take care and I will see you next week. Aloha. Okay, that's a wrap for this week. The Anxiety Ease podcast is produced by myself and the music is provided by Pixabay. For more episodes or to get in touch anytime, you can visit my website, www.drlisahartwell.com and if you do like the show, please leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps us out a lot. Also, if you want to see where you fall in the continuum of your high functioning anxiety, head on over to the link that's found in the show notes www.hartwellanxietyassessment.com.