In the journey of survivors of domestic, family, and sexual violence, laughter can become a powerful ally. Embracing humour is not just a coping mechanism; it’s a reclaiming of joy, strength, and resilience. Laughter echoes louder than pain, lighting the path to brighter tomorrows.
The notion that humour is the reclaiming of joy underscores the transformative power of laughter around the journey for survivors of domestic, family, and sexual violence. In the aftermath of trauma, survivors often navigate a complex terrain of emotions, including pain, fear, and sorrow. The ability to find humour in moments, even amid adversity, signifies a profound shift – a reclaiming of joy that might have been temporarily overshadowed by the weight of past experiences.
Humour can, in this sense, become a resilience response, a coping mechanism that allows survivors to rise above the boundaries of their trauma. It signifies an internal strength to find lightness in the midst of darkness, offering a reprieve from the heavy emotional burdens they may carry. This reclaiming of joy through humour is a deliberate act of asserting influence over one’s narrative, highlighting that moments of levity can coexist with moments of healing.
Laughter, as a form of self-expression, becomes a tool for empowerment. It allows survivors to redefine their experiences, reshaping the story from one solely defined by pain to one that encompasses a spectrum of emotions, including joy. In finding humour, survivors actively engage in the process of rebuilding and rediscovering the joy that might have been obscured by their past.
Humour may not always be appropriate. There are different styles and differences between cultures, therefore it is important to be aware humour may not always be received as intended. Humour can also be negative when it is used in a self-defeating (joking about yourself) or aggressive manner (when it is at the expense of others). However, many find that when it is used in the right way it can affect troubling times in a positive way, and lighten the load for the survivor and their surrounding support people.
Ultimately, humour can become a means of taking back control – reclaiming control over one’s emotional landscape and declaring that joy, in all its forms, is a rightful part of the survivor’s journey. It reflects not only resilience but also a commitment to embracing life beyond the shadows of trauma, finding moments of joy, lightness, and even laughter along the path to healing.
The Adamus Nexus post-crisis support group provides connections and support needed to help women regain their inner power and worthiness to go forward in life and be or do whatever they choose. There is no advice, no counselling and no therapy. But there just might be a little nervous laughter and eventually some joy.
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Find Your Tribe So You Can Thrive – Tedx Talk with Kristine Hewett
Many people have had a traumatic incident in their lives, and we now all have the collective trauma of COVID. Why is there an expectation that we need to ‘get over it’ or ‘move on from it’? Lived experiences may well have happened in our past, but they have ongoing impact on our now and our future. Kristine wants to help people to do more than survive and to in fact thrive by finding their people or tribe.
