Boisterous Laughter

 

I have found a podcast that I absolutely love. It’s called “Life Is Short with Justin Long.”

 

Image Credit: wondery.com

Justin is very funny and loves puns, just like I do, which is part of his charm, but he designed this podcast because despite his “Long” name, life really is short, and he wants to pick people’s brains and find out how they cope with challenges and really make the most of their short time here on earth. It is quite interesting. I’m only on episode 5, I believe, but my favorite interview so far has been with Chef Wolfgang Puck, which I will write an entire blog post about at a later time.

I have been a Justin Long fan since I first saw him in Accepted. I think that Justin truly is an underrated actor, he is so talented. I have seen almost all of his movies and watched him play a variety of different characters, and he nails every. single. one. He is amazing! I have become an even bigger fan after listening to his podcast and learning that he is a nerd, and I mean that with the most amount of respect I can muster, because I too am a nerd, and I truly think nerds are cool. He’s super funny, and seems incredibly kind, he cares about humanity and the world, and he is fantastic at accents and impressions. He’s just so talented.

If you haven’t watched any of his movies or listened to his podcast, I highly recommend you do so.

Now I know you are probably thinking to yourself “Kristian, you’re rambling again,” so I’ll get into today’s topic, which as the title suggests is boisterous laughter.

Image Credit: Google Images

For as long as I can remember I haven’t liked my laugh, and I even wrote a post about this, because it’s the one thing most people say they love about me. It’s real, and it’s boisterous, and I think I find that obnoxious, (that it’s boisterous, I mean,) but people tell me it’s contagious. I haven’t mastered the concept of suppressing my laugh, and honestly, I don’t understand how people can do that. If I find something funny, I can assure you my laugh is very real, and I don’t know how to hold back.

After listening to Justin’s interview with Anna Chlumsky, I realized I am embarrassed by my boisterous laugh because as a child I was often scolded for it. Yes, you read that right, I was scolded for making a joyous noise. My teachers often told me my laugh was too loud, and while my parents never really scolded me for laughing, they would try to get me to calm down when I would laugh at inappropriate times, (completely understandable) and I still have trouble with that, but I have learned to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from cracking up, because once I start laughing, I can’t stop.

I get that there is a time and a place for everything, but children are really impressionable, and I think it’s important that we don’t punish them for things beyond their control. If you know a child who is a loud laugher, embrace that! It’s a part of who they are, and they can’t help it. You can easily tell the difference between a real laugh and a fake laugh, and if their genuine laugh is a bit boisterous, it’s really okay, but when you start telling the child that there is something wrong with their laugh, they believe there is something wrong with them, and those issues will carry on into adulthood.

I think it’s important that we are careful with our words, and not just with children, but with people as a whole. If someone laughs, I mean really laughs and it’s hearty, and real, and genuine, isn’t that the best?

As I discover more of who I am, I am learning to embrace my character traits, the things about me that I have always considered to be flaws. My laugh is not a flaw, because it’s very real, and it’s a part of who I am. I love to laugh, and there’s nothing wrong with it, and I’m not going to apologize for it anymore. If someone finds my laugh to be obnoxious because it’s too loud, that’s their problem. I refuse to be fake! We have enough of that in the world.

Here’s to real, genuine laughter! Boisterous, giggle, chuckles, high pitched, baritone, it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s REAL!

 

What about you? Do you like your laugh? Are you a loud laugher?

 

Love & life lessons,

Kristian