Laughter: The SOS For Lawyers

Mayo Clinic tells us that we relieve stress when we laugh or use our figurative "funny bone. Since the work of lawyers/solicitors is demanding and stressful, they must go out of their way to seek humor in their life. The question where is the lawyer's funnybone?

Meet Everett

Everett believed that he did not have a funny bone in his body. He hadn't had a good laugh in years, rarely smiled, and didn't realize that he walked around wearing a frown. Everett lost his sense of humor long ago. He couldn't remember ever joking around, smiling, or laughing.

"My wife says I analyze everything. She says that I take life too seriously. She calls me 'sourpuss.' That hurts because deep down, I know she is right."

What happened to Everett's sense of humor? In the legal profession, it is easy to lose one's sense of humor. Yet, to keep a proper perspective, it is important for men and women to maintain a sense of humor. 

Everett continues, "My wife, Helen, tells me that our house is like a tomb. She and my kids walk around on eggshells. Now Helen and the kids are tired of tiptoeing around me when I am home because I'm always in a foul mood. They even go out to eat together to get away from me."

Everett didn't realize how laughter saves many marriages and also relieves stress, and increases health. 

Laughter can be the best medicine for any lawyer because it repairs damaged relationships and increases immunity.

Prolonged stress can result in the flu, migraine headaches, chest pain, back pain, sore throat, indigestion, chronic autoimmune disorders, and even worse.

Lawyers can be an intense group, in and outside of the office.

This seriousness makes it difficult to enjoy themselves at work or home. The intensity and the analytical side are usually inculcated into the lawyer persona beginning in law school.

Thinking lawyerly thoughts might include an inclination to: 

• Making sure to look confident or self-assured
• Analyze everything
• Avoid emotional involvement
• Strong ability to win arguments
• Logic, deductive reasoning
• Use of analogies to prove a point
• Always questioning, pessimistic 
• Ready to say no rather than yes
• Speak in generalities (careful with wording)

This lawyerly way of thinking can choke out laughter and humor if an attorney is not careful.

Relieve Your Stress With Laughter

Find humor in your day. Whether watching a funny sitcom on TV or movies on Netflix, make time to giggle. Laughter is one of the most fantastic forms of stress relief.

Here Are Some Short-Term Benefits From Laughter

Laughter the SOS for Lawyers will:

• Stimulate many organs.

• Enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air

• Stimulates your heart, lungs, and muscles

• Increases the endorphins that are released by your brain

• Activates and relieves your stress response

• Fires up and then cools down your stress response

• Increases your heart rate and blood pressure

• Stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation

• Helps reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress (such as headaches, neck pain, back pain, shoulder pain)

Everett Finds His Funny Bone

Everett had believed that life was a joyless affair to be tolerated. He entertained himself by thinking and using his intellect.

Because of lawyers' high IQ, lawyers are more intelligent than most they depend on their intellectual and analytical skills to survive, leaving little room for humor, laughter, and fun. Many attorneys see little need to build their EQ (or their emotional intelligence)

Everett realized that IQ and EQ are different. He learned he could build up his EQ. Everett began to develop compassion for himself, his office staff, and colleagues. He learned to stop being judgmental. He sought out ways to laugh. He began to play with the family pet. He even tried meditation off and on.

Everett's sense of humor and laughter did not happen all at once but he says,

"I am a changed man and more importantly, my home is a place of laughter and relaxation because I stopped taking myself so seriously."

#lawyers #attorneys #solicitors #emotionlintelligence #lawyerwellbeing