Joyful Tomfoolery

Joyful Tomfoolery

A cheerful heart is good medicine.

Zing. I snickered as the meme bounced off a satellite and landed in Kendra and Kristin’s phones. It was a ridiculous picture captioned with something silly, and it was completely unrelated to whatever business thing we were currently discussing via text. The laughing emoji responses I received were soon followed by more memes in response, and we spent a few minutes laughing over nonsense before returning to the more serious discussion we had temporarily abandoned.

People often ask us what it is like to work as a trio—running a small business together as equal partners. There are a hundred reasons why we love working as a collective, but there are also moments of frustration. Our individual strengths are almost always complementary, but sometimes our different perspectives require compromise. We’ve discovered that humor goes a long way in strengthening our bond as friends even as we work alongside one another as professionals. Laughter acts as a buffer and gives us a mental break. Humor reminds us of one another’s humanness and keeps us connected when we are physically apart, and often speaks to a deeper, harder truth beneath the surface laughter.

I’ve come to cherish that lighthearted connection so much that I’ve adopted it in other situations. My brothers periodically get something from me that falls into the “just for fun” category, as does my husband. If I see something silly and it makes me think of someone I love, I take a moment to send it their way with a funny little note, letting them know I’m thinking of them and love them.

As adults, it’s so easy to fall into rhythms of responsibility in our relationships without setting aside time for silliness and fun. We disregard the importance laughter plays as it smooths over rough spots and hard moments. We forget that a joyful heart is good medicine—as good for our spirits as it is for our relationships.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Pick one relationship to start injecting a little extra silliness into, and make it a regular habit going forward.