Y<\/span>ou know how I know I\u2019m aging? The mirror!<\/p>\n And there it is. An example of how I use humor as a coping mechanism, which I then funnel into my humor writing and performances. But I\u2019m getting a little ahead of myself. While this is where I\u2019ve landed with this coping skill\u2014content creation for my comedic pursuits\u2014it\u2019s also an integral piece of my everyday life toolkit.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always appreciated humor and, in fact, my earliest memory of finding something funny was when I was in second grade. We had a custodian named Elmer\u2014this will become important in a sec\u2014and when Mrs. Takahara asked Brad Bentley to go and get Elmer\u2019s glue for our art project, Brad returned out of breath yodeling out, \u201cElmer isn\u2019t here today!\u201d<\/p>\n It wouldn\u2019t be until I was a teenager that I would experience a stressful situation and appreciate a comedic moment when it presented itself. I was 16, and I\u2019d locked my keys in my Camaro. My dad managed to get into the car with a coat hanger after which he said tersely as he threw it into my back seat, \u201cThis is for the next time you lock your keys in the car.\u201d<\/p>\n As life went on my challenges became more intense. I\u2019ve logged in more than my fair share of losses, and I\u2019ve experienced a health crisis or five in my life. I found that finding the funny in some decidedly unfunny situations was a way to cope that made me feel better. Hopeful. Resilient. Present. And I could carry on.<\/p>\n And now I\u2019m aging. And that\u2019s not nothing. It means I\u2019m leaning on my humor coping mechanism heavily. Nothing prepared me for this part of my journey because, like any journey, it doesn\u2019t possess the necessary gravitas until you\u2019re in it. And now I\u2019m well into it; feeling it, living it, and navigating it in real time. This elder role is filled with bracing realities like our own mortality, financial insecurity, and persistent health conditions. No wonder we all need a good laugh.<\/p>\n Fortunately, as the output of humor, laughter does the heavy lifting, providing an immediate release that fires up the endorphin party, flooding our body with those yummy \u201cfeel-good\u201d chemicals.\nAccording to UCLA Health<\/a>, laughter goes a long way in providing loads of health benefits like boosting the immune system, improving heart health, and relieving pain.<\/p>\n While humor can be defined simply as \u201cthe capacity to express or perceive what\u2019s funny\u201d it\u2019s not a one-size-fits-all type of interpersonal communication. Depending upon what online site you land on when you\u2019re searching, there are at least 20 approaches that may elicit a guffaw from you. These include:<\/p>\n Physical comedy that uses exaggerated actions, falls, or clumsy movements that don\u2019t result in any owies.<\/p>\n Jokes or pithy asides commenting on the everyday occurrences in our lives, many of which are shared experiences.<\/p>\n Real-life funny stories that are entertaining because the storyteller has a flair for comedy.<\/p>\n Jokes at someone\u2019s expense to point out actual or non-existent flaws, oftentimes to lighten up the mood or moment.<\/p>\n Clever use of puns, double entendres, or phonetic mix-ups that deliver some brain food at the same time.<\/p>\n Language that uses sarcasm, irony, wit or exaggeration for social commentary.<\/p>\n Are any of these more likely to set off a fit of giggles? Huh-uh. You get to choose what cracks you up.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a big fan of an observational-anecdotal approach with a side of self-deprecating humor. This combo-pack provides me with an opportunity to really home in on the absurd and lighten the emotional load of what I\u2019m experiencing in the world.<\/p>\n As a three-piece ensemble, it also fuels my \u201cwrite what I know\u201d approach, providing a comedic spin and ensuring I don\u2019t take myself too seriously as I row-row-row my metaphorical boat through life\u2019s turbulent waters. This also allows me to alchemize my emotions into actions, making humor less a coping mechanism and more a form of expression.<\/p>\n As I\u2019ve aged, I\u2019ve found I\u2019m getting credit for simply breathing. After watching me work out vigorously or lift something heavy, people respond with, \u201cGood for you!\u201d At my Medicare appointment, my doctor and I came to the same conclusion. He told me I was aging. I agreed. I found the whole thing hilarious.<\/p>\n That exchange made me realize these weren\u2019t isolated incidents. Comical interludes were unfolding daily. The more I noticed these moments, the more I wanted to capture them and explore what they revealed about aging.<\/p>\n I also discovered that humor does more than make us laugh. It acts as a pressure-release valve, reducing stress, shifting your perspective, lifting your mood, and connecting you with other people. That\u2019s why there\u2019s no time like the present to add a few more ha-ha moments to your life.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to be in the middle of a crisis, fancy yourself a comedian, or create side-splitting content to reap the benefits of humor as a coping mechanism. You simply need to determine what makes you snort-laugh.<\/p>\n It all begins with noticing what you find funny. Maybe you enjoy stand-up comedy, sitcoms, amusing memes, witty books, or you have that one hilarious friend who makes you laugh, no matter what head space you\u2019re in. Consider your known universe of chuckle-inducing fodder as outlets possessing gravitational pull and just tap into them.<\/p>\n Humor is like life. We don\u2019t know how it\u2019ll go or what the outcome will be, but we\u2019re moving forward. Regardless.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s no joke.<\/p>\n Humor can help us face the realities of growing older with resilience, perspective, and a smile<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2026","category-fall-2026-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17672"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17901,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17672\/revisions\/17901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Slapstick:<\/h3>\n
Observational:<\/h3>\n
Anecdotal:<\/h3>\n
Self-Deprecating:<\/h3>\n
Wordplay:<\/h3>\n
Satire:<\/h3>\n
Diane Dean-Epps<\/a> is a humor writer, author, and speaker whose work explores the lighter side of growing older. She\u2019s the author of BANGS \u2019N\u2019 BOTOX: My Aging Journey Into, Through, and Beyond Denial, Fillers & Human Preservatives<\/em> <\/a>and hosts the BANGS \u2019N\u2019 BOTOX<\/a> podcast, where she shares humorous observations about aging and everyday life. She lives in California.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"