Laughing over lemons. That phrase has been on my mind for a few days. It’s a twist on the phrase “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” I think sometimes it’s best to laugh at our worst days.
Like, when I had only been in the psychiatric hospital for a day back in 2007, I was telling psych ward jokes. You know, what’s the difference between the patients and the staff on psychiatric units? First, the patients get better and leave. Second, the staff have the keys. And there was another one. Something about not all patients believing they’re God. I think those last two apply to institutions for people with developmental disabilities too. I mean, particularly at the intensive support home (ie. the home for those with severe challenging behavior), my spouse said the only noticeable difference between the residents and staff was the staff carrying a pager to beep for assistance when a resident becomes violent. Other than that, both staff and residents were usually staring blankly at the TV.
We, the residents, were often blamed. Or at least, the other residents (other than me, that is) were. They have no motivation for life and they are too old to teach. Besides, no-one can force them away from the TV because that would be involuntary care. That’s what I was told. Never mind that I’ve witnessed on many occasions staff telling residents that they had gotten enough “attention” for the day because staff had been sitting with them for fifteen minutes with a cup of coffee.
I am often quite cynical in my humor. If only my cynical jokes weren’t actually 99% truthful. And now all I can hope for is that my joke about everything being okay in 2034 (because the world is going to be blasst to hell) isn’t going to turn out 99% truthful too.
I am linking this post up with Friday Writings. It isn’t necessarily a hopeful or positive post. However, I do feel that laughing over the many lemons life hands me and many other people in this world and age, can certainly be helpful.
A Multitude of Musings 
Never heard of the phrase laughing at lemons.
I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in a psych ward or hospital
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Thanks. I got the phrase from one of my collections of journaling prompts.
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A good thing to laugh at lemons and I love a fair bit of black humor. We laughed a lot when we had the earthquakes here in chch That helps you cope
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Yes, laughter truly helps many people cope with difficult circumstances. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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Well, I have to admit I laughed out loud at the joke about thinking they’re God. Not that I have lived in a mental institution (though I did have several years of out-patient psychotherapy in my twenties). But there are members of the medical professions … Your observation about the ‘enough attention’ makes you sound a lot saner than staff who could say and think such things! Your cynical humour seems to come from a very clear eye; glad it had helped you cope over the years. I wish I didn’t so agree with you about 2034.
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Thanks for your extensive comment. I think the staff aren’t necessarily bad or crazy people, but rather they’re higher up in the peccking order than the residents.
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And clearly somewhat lacking in compassion and empathy! An ‘us and them’ mentality is common to institutions of all kinds, I suppose. Anyway, long may your dark humour prevail! (And here I’m going all serious on you. Tsk!)
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Yeah, you’re right. Then again, I honestly think most people don’t have the level of empathy required to withstand power dynamics like this.
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When our mind is stressed and when it cannot cope any more with each overwhelming blow that assails it, it rebels and leaves the ways of logic and rational thought. Therapy can help, medication may do its work, but above all, it is interaction with people that may help us overcome those low depths of despair. Some gifted professionals with a true calling to their chosen work can be the ripe juicy lemons that make excellent refreshing lemonade. We may truly laugh with those lemons and drink deep their healing refreshment.
Nick – Intelliblog
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Thanks for sharing your wisdom!
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Dark humor has served as a life raft on more than one occasion for me too. It feels like an act of rebellion, saying, “yeah things suck, but I’ll be damned if this situation takes my ability to laugh away.”
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So glad you’re able to use dark humor effectively too.
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You’re not alone being a cynic. I’ve heard of making something good out of life’s lemons but laughing at them is a whole new and delightful slant.
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Thank you for your kind comment. I think cynicism can sometimes help us.
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Laughing at lemons, sounds like a challenging thing to do but worth the effort. I have often tried to pull laughter into dark days to lighten the tension, but not everyone can find the humor amidst tragedy. Laughter is better than tears.
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Good points indeed, though sometimes crying helps too.
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That is one thing I don’t do near enough… it is actually kind of hard to cry with the way my meds adjust my emotions and physical responses.
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Same for me unfortunately.
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Embracing the lemon, no matter how sour ~ if one can find a hint of sweet, life is good. I really appreciated the candor, the dark humour in your well composed post!
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Thanks so much for your kind comment.
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It would be “involuntary” work for a worker to do something while that favorite soap opera’s on! This reminds me of elementary school, though my part of the world didn’t have television when I was there. The teachers would say their pieces. Everyone was supposed to learn something. I learned to sleep with my eyes open. If people weren’t able to learn anything from what the teacher was saying, at best the teacher might say it again. If they were too far behind, they could repeat the year. If too far ahead, well that was our fault for being horrible precocious little freaks. They couldn’t be expected to think about their job!
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I’m not sure I understand your point, sorry.
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I agree, laugh while we can, the world is so miserable, it is nice to joke and laugh!
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Definitely true!
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