How to Cope with Change: Why Laughter Makes It Easier

There is a very specific moment that happens when life shifts. You are not fully in the old chapter anymore, but you are not quite settled in the new one either. If you have ever wondered how to cope with change, this in-between space is usually where the question begins.

The brain, naturally, has opinions.

Threshold moments tend to invite overthinking, catastrophising, and an impressive ability to turn minor unknowns into full-scale dramas. But there is one surprisingly effective way to interrupt that spiral, and it does not involve journalling, manifesting, or trying to “stay positive”.

It involves laughing.

Not the polite kind. The real kind. The one that catches you off guard and loosens something you did not realise you were gripping.

This month, we are exploring laughter as a tool for adaptability. Because when it comes to navigating change, humour turns out to be one of the brain’s most underrated assets.

The Science Bit: Why Laughter Helps You Adapt

Laughter is not just a reaction. It is a neurological event.

When you laugh, several important things happen at once.

It increases cognitive flexibility.
Humour activates the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for perspective, problem solving, and creative thinking. This is the same region we need when navigating change. A brain that can laugh is a brain that can see more than one option.

It reduces threat signalling.
Laughter lowers activity in the amygdala, the brain’s alarm system. This matters because change often triggers a subtle threat response. When the brain senses danger, it narrows focus. When it senses safety, it widens. Laughter signals safety.

It regulates the nervous system.
A genuine laugh stimulates the vagus nerve through deep, rhythmic breathing. This shifts the body out of fight or flight and into a state where learning and adaptation are possible.

It helps the brain update predictions.
The brain is a prediction machine. When you laugh in the middle of uncertainty, you are teaching it something important. This is unfamiliar, but it is not fatal. That update makes future change feel more tolerable.

In short, laughter does not remove uncertainty. It makes the system more capable of handling it.

The Human Insight: Why This Matters at a Threshold

Thresholds are uncomfortable because they ask us to function without a script. The old rules no longer apply, and the new ones have not fully formed yet. The mind fills that gap with stories, usually dramatic ones.

Laughter disrupts that process.

It creates a pause.
A soft reset.
A reminder that the situation might not be as dire as the mind is suggesting.

This does not mean laughing things away or avoiding reality. It means giving your nervous system enough breathing room to respond rather than react.

Think of laughter as mental agility training. It keeps you flexible when the ground beneath you is shifting. It allows you to move with change instead of bracing against it.

Or put another way, if change is asking you to learn a new dance, laughter stops you freezing on the dance floor.

The Monthly Challenge: The Adaptability Boost

This month’s challenge is designed to use laughter intentionally, not accidentally.

1. Interrupt the drama.
When you notice yourself spiralling about something new or uncertain, deliberately introduce something that makes you laugh. A clip. A podcast moment. A ridiculous memory. Let the laugh break the loop.

2. Laugh with others.
Shared laughter is particularly powerful for adaptability. It builds social safety, which makes change easier to metabolise. Send someone the thing that made you laugh. Watch something funny together. Let humour be connective.

3. Track the shift.
At the end of each week, notice whether moments of laughter softened your response to change. Did you recover more quickly. Did you think more clearly. Did the situation feel less overwhelming.

You are not trying to force optimism. You are training flexibility.

Closing Thought

Change does not always require courage. Sometimes it requires levity.

Laughter reminds the brain that it does not have to lock down every unknown. That it can loosen its grip and stay curious instead. That adaptation is easier when the system feels safe enough to breathe.

So if you find yourself wobbling at a threshold this month, do not ask what you should do next. Ask what might make you laugh.

It could be the most adaptive step you take.