Laughing your way through it

I swear, friends, I sit down to write these letters with a little hype to myself to the tune of “Ok. This doesn’t have to be a novel. It doesn’t all have to be a round the world journey of “it all started on a sleepless night 5 years ago.”

But, dammit y'all, it really did all start on a sleepless night 5 years ago. In early 2019, my husband and I decided to take the large leap of faith that made practically 0 sense on paper and move with our 1 year old and 9 year old dog from Lafayette, LA to Charleston, SC to be closer to my soulmate sister and her family.1 Michael and I thought the hardest parts would be figuring out what to do with my business, how to sell our Louisiana home FSBO to be able to make the numbers work on a home here in Mount Pleasant, FIND a home in Mount Pleasant when our target area was limited to a 1 mile radius, move across country by Michael driving the U-Haul and me driving the little one and the dog 13 hours solo. We accomplished all these things, not un-stressfully but fully. But as soon as we started taking that exhale breath and leaning into our future sunny days spent on Sullivans Island, our sweet little Elizabeth had other plans. She went full on sleep strike after the move. It was so mind boggling to us because after a 6 month stint with colic, she was sleeping through the night routinely at age one. Now, this sleep strike wasn’t just the occasional bout of wanting to crawl into bed with us. It was night terrors and a general extreme fear of sleep. We tried everything to help her (and us) - I’m talking holy water, prayers, sage, crystals, dream catchers, changing beds multiple times, therapy, swapping out sleeping in her room. Even the times she was asleep, it didn’t seem restful. She would scream out in her sleep, jarring us awake accompanied by mini heart attacks.

The most perplexing part was she was completely happy and well adjusted during the day. She was loving life in the Lowcountry. She loved being with her cousins, going to the beach, going to our beautiful playgrounds. But night was a totally different story. So eventually one of the routes we chose to help was hiring a virtual sleep consultant. Michael was resistant (in retrospect, understandable, because the last thing he wanted to do during the times we weren’t fighting the never ending sleep battle was keep talking about the sleep battle.) But we were at each other's throats and so tired and I just had to keep attempting to find a solution. I can’t remember what all advice was given on that first meeting with the consultant, but one quote she had the audacity to deliver to our dark circle eyed faces we will never forget - “sleep begets sleep.” Obviously, lady, why else do you think we are here?? Lack of sleep from said toddler begets lack of sleep for us ALL.2

My husband and I still reference “sleep begets sleep” somewhat on the regular and in ridiculous ways. We are inside joke people - I think it stems from being together since we were 20 and growing up together - we have to hold on to those humor moments from the growing pains that are figuring out adulting with no road map. But it is a concept I believe holds much validity. What you focus on compounds - good or bad. One of my favorite Beautiful Chorus songs sums up the positive side perfectly in “More Gratitude” with the repeating lyrics of “gratitude brings you more things to be grateful for. Grateful to be grateful.”

I came back to this concept last week after getting a last minute invite to a comedy show. I had never heard of Entitled Housewife before, so going into the performance blind was quite the treat. I belly laughed a lot and that laughter spilled into more aspects of my life that week. After a creative social media rut for a few weeks, I tried something new and made these memes for my store, Amor’s, account and giggled the entire time I was making them. Fortunately, they performed extremely well with our followers and lead to a good uptick in sales that day- but my favorite part is I think they spread some silliness to those that saw them. Laughter begot laughter.

The first half of the comedy show was not done in the entitled housewife character role, but stand up by Becky Robinson doing standup as herself. Becky shared the story of how her now famous character was born. She was living with her parents in Oregon while escaping LA in the pandemic and was at the lowest period of her life. One day she got out of bed, put on her mom's golf skort, visor, and sunglasses and entitled housewife was born. She told the audience how the character and the laughter and ridiculousness of it all saved her life and pulled her out of the depths and back into living a life of creativity again. It paralleled today's guest, Rebecca's, story so closely.

As I mention in the interview, Rebecca and I were introduced via our children. Her daughter Peggy was in my daughter Elizabeth's class and I had the pleasure of sitting across from her at lunch and I knew immediately I had to meet this hilarious and well timed child's mother. It was that kind of humor that you can just tell is fostered at home. And as a firm believer in laughter as the sorcerer's stone of longevity and wellness - I'm forever seeking more.3 Like so many creatives I interview, Rebecca's path was far from linear. At first she tried the “college-law school-lawyer” adulthood in a box model. Unfortunately, she found herself deeply unhappy and masking that unhappiness with a strong addiction to alcohol. She pulled herself out of that dark night of the soul with comedy via a myriad of forms. As she tells us in the interview, the path to finding work that makes her feel alive and inspired and that journey was far from easy. One of my favorite truth bombs she drops is the humbling realization of “your talent not matching your taste.” If you are a creative and started anything for the first time, you can relate to just how sobering that is. But Rebecca's story is a reminder that what's worth it takes time and is worth fighting for. Yes darkness can beget darkness, but also joy can beget joy. Self acceptance begets self acceptance and if that isn’t something we all need more of, I don't know what is.

I hope you enjoy this interview with Rebecca and leave more inspired to listen to that tiny voice in your head that is asking you to try something new. It doesn't have to be radical, you don't have to change your whole life. But giving yourself that opportunity to try new things will beget that courage and confidence that you can pivot and you can find a lot of joy in exploring the not so practical daydreams in life.

Rebecca's first public facing solo project, Dial Mom for Murder, is launching so soon! I have had the privilege of seeing sneak peaks of footage and I can’t wait for more. The plot line follows housewife turned podcaster, Delaney, on her journey to attempting to infiltrate the cool moms club of her neighborhood by solving the murder of one of their own, Teensy Peterson. Delaney enlists the help of Bev, who's blind faith in her abilities paired with a commanding personality really try to shape Delaney's pod into shape. Stay tuned to Dial Mom for Murder's Instagram for release details and sneak previews!

If you enjoyed this, I would love to send you more! Subscribe below to instantly (and freely!) claim a spot on one of my most favorite people list.