Off The Cuff - With 2oldNOLAchicks
We're Jill and Caroline. We tackle a new topic with every episode, and it's always... off the cuff! We never know until we begin recording what our topic will be, but with age comes wisdom, so we feel we have a lot to say! We hope you come along with us on this journey and we're confident you'll find us relatable!
Off The Cuff - With 2oldNOLAchicks
Off The Cuff - The Healing Power of Laughter with 2oldNOLAchicks
Can laughter really be the best medicine? On this side-splitting episode of Two Old Nola Chicks, we kick things off with a jaw-dropping tale of competitive eating as Joey Chestnut devours 83 hot dogs in just 10 minutes. We'll have you wondering about the human stomach's limits while laughing along with our outrageous commentary. As we navigate through today's politically charged and sometimes angry world, we share how humor can mend frayed nerves and strengthen bonds, transforming stressful moments into unforgettable family anecdotes and inside jokes.
Struggling to find joy in your daily grind? We've been there, and we're here to talk about the necessity of pursuing your passions to boost overall well-being. From quitting lackluster jobs to reevaluating personal relationships and living situations, listen to our personal stories about breaking free from the mundane. Discover how today's social media-driven world can be a gateway to new adventures and unexpected joys, like volunteering. We'll reveal how stepping out of your comfort zone can lead to the most rewarding and laughter-filled experiences.
Lastly, we delve into the transformative power of volunteering and its capacity to spread joy. Through heartfelt stories from our time at a therapeutic riding center, we highlight the profound connections and pure, uplifting moments that come from helping others, especially individuals with disabilities. We emphasize the importance of focusing on positivity and avoiding the pitfalls of negativity, whether on social media or through news outlets. Stay tuned till the end as we invite you to connect with us on Facebook and Instagram, and share your thoughts and questions for future episodes. Let’s keep the conversation lively and laughter-filled!
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Hi, welcome to the show. I'm Carola and I'm Jill, and this is Two Old Nola Chicks and, as usual, we're off the cuff. Yes, this is a show where we are going to pick the topic right here on air, and we have a hat here with lots of different topics that both Carol and I have put in, and so we are going to pick today. And, carolyn, you want to go ahead?
Speaker 2:Yeah, before we do that I just thought of this I want to tell you this. I find this interesting. So last week, on last week's episode, the social media episode we were talking about the competition eaters, Remember? Yeah, Well, yesterday it was Labor Day, Jeff and I were hanging out and he puts on Netflix and Netflix is having a Netflix eating competition for Labor Day. They had all these little side competitions going on, but the main event was Joey Chestnut and a guy I think his name was Kobe, Asian guy the two top eaters in the world right Facing off together In 10 minutes.
Speaker 2:They wanted to see how many hot dogs, hot dogs and buns they couldn't separate them, they couldn't dunk the bread in the water, had to eat the whole thing how many they could do in 10 minutes. Joey Chestnut wiped the floor with this other guy. He did 83 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Now you tell me Unbelievable. Where does it go? I don't know. I mean, the stomach is not very big, I know, but it can be stretched out A lot apparently. Yeah, I would like to see that. I would like to see Like an x-ray.
Speaker 1:Yes, I want to see what that looks like. I don't know, I just kind of get sick when I think about that. I know I. I kind of get sick when I think about that I know I could probably do.
Speaker 2:I don't know, maybe three, I don't know. I've put away a lot of food before, but not at 83. Hot dogs, yeah, sure, and in 10 minutes. In 10 minutes, that's insane, yeah, yeah. So anyway, I thought you might be interested.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, good to know.
Speaker 2:All right, what are we talking about today? All right, let's see Hands in the hat. Oh, this is a Jill. Oh a good one Laughter. I love that. Everybody loves to laugh. Yes, it is the best medicine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is Not enough of it, though. I think that we were just talking about this a few minutes ago, and it's always like that. It's like when we talk about joy, and then I said, but let's talk about joy, it's like laughter and then non laughter. And so I find that lately maybe it's just because of politics or just rage in the world there's so much anger and not enough laughter.
Speaker 2:Most definitely. People are angry and it's like I know that there's nothing new under the sun, right, I mean, people have been angry since the beginning of time, man, it just seems like it's so much worse these days. The political I don't know where to get into the political conversation, but the political state of the world, this side hates this side, this side hates that side. It's just, it's unnecessary man. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know it's unnecessary.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you know behind with laughter for me, my kids.
Speaker 1:My son told me one time he goes you're forever 16 because I laugh at the most immature, stupid things that you could possibly imagine, like just my daughter's. Like I was at school today and I fell down the stairs. I'm like, oh my god, did you tape it? Because I could just imagine her doing that. Just, you're such a mean mom. I'm like, come on, you know, we all want to laugh at that. Exactly. That's hilarious.
Speaker 1:But when she was telling, if she had told me in like sadness, but I could tell the way that she was telling me, like she was laughing for herself, right. So and this particular daughter has like like nothing's wrong with her, she's just like not looking where she's going, whatever. So there have been several times when she was growing up we used to have a business and, um, one night she, they held her something, but it was just because she was just being goofy, dancing and stuff like that, and it was just all standing there not laughing at. Because she was just being goofy, dancing and stuff like that and it was just all standing there not laughing at her. She was laughing too.
Speaker 1:That kind of like uncontrollable laughter is like different than even when you hear a joke it's like the inside jokes of the family, right, that really get. When you're laughing you really forget all of the problems you really do. When you laugh at a joke it's kind of a temporary thing, but when you laugh at like a memory or something like that, that happened in a family. One of my sons has a tiktok and he'll say all these topics on there and to the outsiders they think, oh, he's making this stuff up and so much of it is real and they were like, dude, that didn't happen. But here we are as a family laughing hysterically because we know he actually did that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, exactly, I know exactly what you mean. Jeff and I have a lot of inside jokes and you get that it's that like double over, yeah, stomach hurt laughter which. That like double over stomach hurt laughter, which is like totally the best laughter. Right, we had an anxiety joke on my boss and I at the bar the other day. I didn't even have to say anything, I just did like a physical movement and it didn't click at first and as soon as it clicked she just in hysterics and that's just you can't like. There's no price you can put on that kind of laughter, you know, yeah.
Speaker 1:I wish it was more like. It sounds so silly to put it this way, but I wish it was almost in a class every single year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Every time you go to kindergarten all the way to college, right, when it's like strategies to get you back on track yeah you know, like laughter things or things that can get your mind off of the negativity, because, as we know, like, negativity will change your whole day. So it shifts everything, so it can happen, and it just shifts everything, and then that fear turns into anxiety and anxiety turns into isolation and before you know it your whole day is gone and a lot of times it goes into the next day. So I don't think we're taught as just human beings. Maybe in other countries they are. We have a lot to learn from everywhere in the world, but just striving to learn to shake it and move on and kind of just laugh and know that that's not the end of the world.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly, yeah, yeah, I mean I think if people had more of that attitude then we'd be so much better off. Two things laughter and kindness. That's all we need, because all of those things I mean mean kindness is an expression of, of love really. I mean you it's not like you and joey kind of love, or anything like that, or me and jeff, or even your parents, or you know whatever but you can love your neighbor and not know your neighbor, right, but show them kindness and that's showing them a level of love, right. And if you had kindness and laughter, it was like the two um, it's like the double way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and everybody, you know, everybody goes through hard times. Because somebody might be listening right now and say, you know, hey, I'm, I have a fatal, a terminal illness, or a child that has a terminal illness, how am I supposed to laugh? You know, and I totally agree with you. But I do think that maybe there are steps to it. Like you, maybe not, you're not ready to actually, you know, have this belly laugh of enjoyment because you're going through a really hard time in your life. But maybe there's other things that you can do to kind of lead up to that. Maybe watch a video of somebody who just talks about trying to remain peaceful or that kind of thing. It doesn't. You may or may not be like a religious person or a believing person, but you could. There's still many people who speak about just finding that inner peace, and so sometimes that starting with that can lead you to possibly laughing again one day. Exactly, sometimes you have to just go through those low points in order to enjoy the high points.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that'll just scroll through some TikToks or some YouTube shorts and you'll find something to laugh about. Jeff can be furious with me about something, whatever it may be. Yeah, it happens quite often. Um, and he'll be. He might not be talking to me at the moment, but you know he'd be laying on the sofa scrolling through the the videos, just busting a gut man, yeah, which I love to see. He reminds me, but he's kind of the same thing as what you were saying just a second ago. He tells me all the time I'm like a five-year-old, we'll be out somewhere, anywhere, and we'll see like a little kid, like a little five-year-old girl, a six-year-old girl, and he'll go. Well, there you are. I'm just completely oblivious to anything going on around me and anything will make me laugh. Yeah, gosh, that's awesome, that's great, that's a great characteristic to have. Yeah, I'm very easily amused. Yeah, very easily.
Speaker 1:You should stay that way for your whole life. That's a good thing to be. I'm very simple, yeah, but you've chosen also wisely. You know, I think from what you've told me, like peaceful things in your life. You've got a lot of music in your life. I know you work with horses for disabled people. It brings you joy. You work with your father, which brings your joy, those kind of things, and so I knew a lot of us and I include myself. You know we're like, well, we don't have very much to laugh about right now. You know, I can think back on many times in my life where I've just completely put myself in situations where I felt like I was a little rat in a box. But I mean, I think there's always a choice and you can always get out of that, even when getting out of that seems like, well, I can't do that. I mean I would have to change my whole life to that, but sometimes you have to do that.
Speaker 1:One of my kids recently built and moved into a new home, like a brand new home, and I was very proud of her when she bought her first home, because she bought it by herself, which was she was, I think, like 22 or 23 years old, wow. So she was really proud of this little house and it was a cute little house but it wasn't in too good of a neighborhood and she was really clinging to that little house because she had, she was proud of herself for buying it, she was bought her, she has a little baby. She bought the baby home there with her husband and and that kind of thing. So there were a million reasons including the mortgage was very low with the low interest rate as to why she shouldn't move, and but all of us saw it as you really need to move.
Speaker 1:So we kept telling her, even though the process was difficult hey, you're going to laugh at this when you finally leave and you're going to look back on it and say, oh my goodness, how was I doing that? Yeah, I mean at night she was very afraid. She's locked in. Her husband worked nights and so she's, like you know, locked bolts on whatever you call it on every single door and fear, and didn't realize how much that fear had taken over in her life. So she shifted, she moved and she's only been in her new home a couple of weeks and she's like, oh my gosh, I feel like the weight of the world off of me and I didn't even know ahead of me. Yeah, so I think that sometimes, when you are feeling that way, sometimes it's even though it looks like this insurmountable feat in order to get you to a different place, you have to do it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely. I mean sometimes you have to take big steps, yeah, to better your life. Yeah, because nobody wants to live in fear, right? Yeah, and so you do whatever it takes to get out of that. I did that. I lived in fear we talked about that just a little while ago too for many years and, um, you know, I had to do some pretty drastic things to get out of that, but it's always worth it. Yeah, it's always worth it, you know.
Speaker 2:I mean, you want to have peace in your life, you want to have laughter in your life. You want to have peace in your life. You want to have laughter in your life, you want to have kindness in your life, you want to have love in your life. It's all the good stuff, and if you can do things to get the bad stuff out, man, do it whatever it takes. I mean, anybody listening to this right now? If you have bad stuff in your life, do whatever it takes to change that, because you only get one life, and why would you want to live it with that bad stuff when the good stuff is out there, right?
Speaker 1:because I think that we, at least in America, there's a certain set of status quo idealism. This is what you do to have a happy life you go to school, you go to college, you buy a house, you get married, you have two children and you're supposed to be happy all the time until you have people who are like, well, I don't like school and what I really like is art and music and the crazy people like us. You know, and you fight the system forever, right, and always feel like you're going against the grain and people make you feel like you're going against the grain and it saddens me, even now that you know in high schools and stuff, they have completely taken out things that aren't just college. You're going to college. I mean, they've taken out like so much like woodshop and home, economics and right, all of these things that, like all of the artsy people, which to me are like 50%, if not more, of all of society, are completely left out. Yeah, and then you have the kids who do what they're supposed to do and they go to college and the degree that a lot of their parents told them to get and they 100% hate it.
Speaker 1:Exactly, I tell my kids I'm like, just let me know what you want to do. Hate it Exactly. I tell my kids I'm like, just let me know what you want to do. I mean, I have a child right now who's about to graduate from college and 100% hates what she's doing. That's a familiar job. Then do something else. Don't spend one second doing that thing. Exactly. I mean, why would you waste your time doing it? Why would you try to force it? Oh, I'll get used to it. You won't, right, do what you love man.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's so. We talked about this recently. It's easier than ever nowadays to make a living at doing what you love. Right, with social media, right, it's just there's, yeah, there's no reason for people to live their life in misery.
Speaker 1:Right, right, but the whole thing is, is, and she sounds a lot like me, but I just don't know what I want to do, right, so you have to explore different things until you you hit something, sure, yeah, I've probably quit 50 jobs, as we all have. I mean just being like I just cannot stay. I can't do this even one more day. Yeah, so, yeah, so I think it's. I think our whole point here is we're saying laughter is the best medicine and you have to remember to do that every single day. But if you're in some type of situation where it's difficult and you can never laugh, then maybe you need to change that situation. Right, exactly, that's the whole point of this whole roundabout talking Right Exactly.
Speaker 2:That's the whole point of this whole roundabout talking Right Exactly, and whether that's a job, you're in a job that you hate or you're in a bad relationship, or whatever, it may be Right. Maybe your finances are bad. Yeah, do whatever you need to do to get out of that.
Speaker 1:Right? Well, because there've been so many people who've said I was married to the right person and I went to the right college and I had the right career and there was a lot of stuff going on behind doors but I was going to be giving up the big house and I was going to be giving up the fine schools, and then do something about it and say I'm in a very small house now and we're very happy. There are other people who are completely miserable and they don't want to leave. They're very happy being in their dream home and their family and that kind of thing, and that's fine too. But if you're not like that and you're like this isn't anything what I want to do. I really just wanted to live in the country and be on a farm somewhere. Then, if you can make it work, find a farm, exactly exactly.
Speaker 2:Jeff and I were talking the other day about what would we do if we had a million dollars, but how would our lives change? And we both said we really don't think they would, because we're both doing already what we love to do. Why we wouldn want to change that? If I won the lottery today, if I, let's say, I won $100 million, you could still find me at the barn All of a sudden, right Working. I'd still work. I'd still work at the barn Because I love it. It brings me joy. Yeah, we laugh a lot and I don't. Why would I?
Speaker 1:want to give that up and awful lot. And I don't. Why would I want to give that up? And isn't it funny that you told me one time you know Jeff had encouraged you to find a hobby to because you I believe you told me I could be wrong, that you were going through some anxiety and he's like you need to get an outlet. And you started volunteering there.
Speaker 2:Yes, just to help just to, to get out of myself, yeah, and help other people.
Speaker 1:I don't even know if you were ever into horses. Oh yeah, I rode as a kid. Okay, so I mean, it's like it wasn't really something you were thinking, because if I thought of volunteering I'd probably think, okay, well, I could volunteer at a children's center or a food bank or something like that. It wouldn't ever occur to me. Okay, I'm going to go volunteer at the horse farm and that's where I'll find happiness. At the same time, even though you rode as a kid, you probably didn't know you were going to find laughter and really just a crazy idea. Your husband said why don't you go try this and go volunteer for this? It might help with your, with your anxiety, and not only help with your anxiety. You now work there and help other people, right, exactly, and cause them to have laughter, exactly. Can't eat, just really can't do better than that yeah, it's a very cool ripple effect.
Speaker 2:And, um, I feel like when you're, when you find something that you, you can do, that you really love doing, there's really no way that there can't be a positive ripple effect from that. And just like with the barn, you know, I mean I had done a search because I didn't know. I mean I was like I thought the same thing, I can volunteer at a food bank or I can volunteer at an animal shelter, and I just did a search on places to volunteer in my area and the barn popped up. I didn't even know it existed. So it's like, just do a search, man, just if you're unsure of what you want to do and that's a great way to start too is volunteering. So, yeah, you have the time, because that can turn into anything. Right, right, absolutely anything. Yeah, my boss, she started out as a volunteer and she's been working there for I don't know, let's say, going on 10 years, so anything can happen, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And, like I said, you started off for it to help you. You wound up helping others. You brought laughter to other people when you couldn't find it yourself right.
Speaker 2:So you never know and I have to say I have since we're talking about the barn, I have to say this and laughter, the people that we help and people that come for therapeutic writing there's kids, there's adults they're some of the funniest people and that and I mean that in the best way yeah, like they're hilarious and they will make you laugh. I mean we laugh with the volunteers, we laugh with the staff, we laugh with everybody, but they are just like amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I don't really know the people that you deal with, but you know, when I was in teaching a few times, I taught in special ed and I can remember I had a mild-moderate class and we would do like writing exercises because they could write. Most of them could write like it was high school, but most of them could write on like at least a second or third grade level. So we had we had some Down syndrome children in there and just like different abilities and that kind of thing and I started doing this thing every morning and they would like write and do a topic sentence because that's what the regular high school kids were doing. So that's what we did. You know, oh my gosh, they came up with the funniest things you ever want to hear.
Speaker 1:You're sitting there reading it to me. It's like it could have been something like you know what would make all your dreams come true? All my dreams will come true If my mama made a hundred peanut butter sandwiches for me when I get out. I mean, it was like the simplest things. Yes, that just humbled you so much that it was like, of course I was not laughing at them, I was just like, oh my god, can we bottle this laughter and joy in this room exactly?
Speaker 2:please can we bring that home, because they were so great man, they are like and I had never been around anybody with a disability like that until I went to the barn and man, it's like, yeah, it's just being in, like being in the lessons with them. You know they get so excited to be on horses, it's just like pure joy. And we have this one girl. She's an adult, she's great and she's constantly and she'll be riding around on the horse and and she's always saying I got it, I got it to anything like, even if she doesn't have it, I got it. It's just like yeah, stephanie, you got it. Man, I don't know, it's just yeah, you can't, you can't buy that. You know it's just like yeah, stephanie, you got it. Man, I don't know. It's just yeah, you can't, you can't buy that.
Speaker 1:You know it's just awesome right, yeah, well, I think we have given a good topic of laughter and unlaughter and how you get there, yeah, and if you're not there and you need to find some laughter, even though you might be going through a hard time right now really bad times, and I've known that in my life as well where it's hard to find that little spark of laughter Don't look at negativity on social media. Don't look at angry people on TikTok. Find the happy ones. Yes, oh, can you what?
Speaker 2:a good one is. What's that? Don't watch the news. No, that's true. That makes people angry and sad. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think most people get their news now from like social media and TikTok and YouTube and that kind of thing. You really have to search out people who are still just okay. Can we just rise on this different level, on this different level? To me, the plane of anger screaming at each other and non-laughter is like on a much lower level than the laughter which is, to me, happiness and joy is the highest level you can be on. But if you could just get there just like a couple of times a day, just through listening to somebody who's telling things that you think are funny, or listening to just something peaceful, or reading something that's peaceful, or reading something that's peaceful, or talking to somebody that's peaceful, then you are 75% ahead of a lot of people today. Definitely you just got to get there. You have to make yourself. You're the only one that can do it Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Resist the bad yeah. Go towards the good Okay. Can do it right. Yeah. Resist the bad yeah.
Speaker 2:Go towards the good, okay so if you are interested in emailing us, our email is to the number two, old knowledge x at gmailcom.
Speaker 1:We'd like to hear any of your questions or comments or any suggestions that you have for things for us to talk about, because we never run out of things to talk about. But if you have something that you would like, then we'd be happy to give our very wise opinions about Just very wise our sage opinions, and also you can follow us on Facebook.
Speaker 2:Our page is Off the Cup it's still on Logix and it's the same on Instagram, so check us out Awesome.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much and have a wonderful week. Bye-bye.