The Staff Have the Key

Posted on by Astrid

I have a morbid sense of humor that has sustained me through the darkest times of my life. I remember when I was in a suicidal crisis in 2007, being held at the police station while waiting for the crisis service to assess me, telling the officers how I wasn’t all that creative, since I had thought out only a few ways to die. I think one of the officers tried to distract me by saying that I must be creative, since I have a blog, but I wouldn’t listen.

Once I had been admitted to the psychiatric hospital, locked ward, with no privileges (as they are called) to leave the ward unsupervised by staff, I started to crack jokes. They were rather lame jokes if you ask me, jokes I’d plucked off the Internet, such as those about the differences between the patients and staff on a psychiatric ward. First, the patients get better and leave; second, not all patients believe they’re God; lastly, the staff have the key.

This post was written in response to this week’s Six Sentence Story Link-Up, for which the prompt word is “key”.

Things I Do Just for Fun #Blogtober20

Posted on by Astrid

Yesterday I didn’t write a post for #Blogtober20. Though I wrote a blog post, I didn’t post it to the linky or Facebook group. Today I’m hopping back onto the bandwagon and writing on today’s prompt, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”. I’m going to share the things I do just for the fun of them.

1. Read chicklit. I am normally mostly into memoirs or young adult fiction about serious topics. When I just want to have fun, however, I read a romcom or other lighthearted women’s fiction. Most recently, I’ve been reading The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth.

2. Find jokes. I am subscribed to a funny E-mail list where the owner sends out daily jokes and comics. I cannot enjoy the comics, of course, but I love the jokes.

I also love to listen to my husband crack jokes. He and I both are a fan of wordplay.

I also love the kind of lists that describe what it’s like to live in a certain state or city. There at one point was one about Nijmegen, the city I went to university in. I related a lot to the things mentioned.

3. Dance. Well, walk in place to the beat of music. I love some playlists on Spotify of fast-paced dance and pop music. I cannot dance at all, but I love to move my body in the rhythm (or out of the rhythm, for that matter, as my sense of rhythm is poor) of the music.

4. Write and read funny blog posts. I particularly love memes and tags. I still need to participate in a couple of tags that I saw on other blogs and liked.

What do you do just for fun?

#Blogtober20

Laughter and Humor for Self-Care #AtoZChallenge

Posted on by Astrid

Okay, I’m rather late posting my letter L post. I honestly wasn’t sure about the topic either, so this post may be brief again. Today I want to talk about laughter and humor as self-care strategies.

One strategy in dialectical behavior therapy, which I talked about in my post on ACCEPTS, is to put on a smile. Literally. Curl up the corners of your mouth and force a smile. This may seem fake and it is at times. However, it can actually help you feel better.

Now try making yourself laugh out loud! In The More or Less Definitive Guide to Self-Care, Anna Borges recommends making yourself actually laugh to feel better. Try saying “Ha,” then “ha ha” and so forth out loud. It will be sure to make you crackle up soon enough.

Another way to make yourself laugh is of course to use humor. We are all different in the types of humor we appreciate. I for one am a true wordplay lover. I can’t stand practical jokes and I don’t understand funny videos due to being blind, unless there is a strong verbal component. My humor can be a bit dark, while others prefer lightheartedness. Whatever humor you like, there’s always something out there on the Internet you’ll appreciate.

Let’s make each other laugh! Tell jokes or share other forms of humor in the comments!

Hihi it’s Milou

Posted on by Astrid

So I writed this some hours ago but didnt feel like posting it here cause bigs want to keep the blog big and serious and stuff but thats not what we meant this blog for when we first started it so I will just write.

Hihihi everyone its me Milou. I’m 8-years-old and I have lots of fun today. Today this staff person taked me to the playground and I went on a seesaw. Of course with the body being big now I not fitted in the seat but I sitted on a side thing that bigs can sit on and still use the seesaw.

Then I got me and Lisel whos 5 some fun books. We tried amazon first but that wouldnt work for some stupid reason so we got some stuff off Apple books. All the books were free so yay we can have as many as we wants. I got one called 100 jokes for kids and it had lots of funny jokes in it. I’m a little old for this kind of books but cause they’re in english they still are fun for me.

Here’s one joke I remember now.

Q: What happens when the cows refuse to get milked?

A: Udder chaos!

Milou age 8