Lessons From an Irish Wake: Levity in tough times isn’t making light of serious things; it’s making sense of hard things

Levity is a top skill at work. Yes, skill. We all want to be lighter. We want to laugh more. Yet, many of us are scared about not being taken seriously at work. What will that mean?

Yet, people are YEARNING for more. They want work to not suck, They want laughter. They want to not be bored. They want LIGHTNESS.

Even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard. Because we face hard things.

Lightness isn’t about making light inappropriately at serious things that SHOULD be treated seriously. Instead, lightness is a way to make the hard stuff liveable, survivable, tolerable.

And it's a way to stay creative and adaptable even in hard times.

It’s like laughing at a funeral.

That’s right…FUNERAL. I met a business once with the tagline, ‘putting the fun in funeral.’ Edgy? Oh yeah.?

THE IRISH WAKE: ONE OF THE OLDEST RITUALS OF HUMANITY IS CELEBRATION

The Romans, The Celts, The Greeks all revered their dead.?

If people are upset, they haven’t been to an Irish wake. An Irish wake - I am half Irish - is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.

When my great uncle passed away in Cork, Ireland, back in my 20s, my family went to the wake. We were out there for my sister’s wedding in Derry, Northern Ireland. When news got to us of his passing, we went to pay our respects.

The event lasts days. And it’s a beautiful, jovial spectacle. Levity. Lightness, Overcoming the Fear of Death. I have never seen anything like it.

People come, drink, tell stories, and jokes as a way to laugh through pain. As a way to remember the deceased. As a way to deal with the hard reality of death.

And usually, there is a dead body there. Seriously. It might scare people. “That’s inappropriate,” some folks might say.

They say that because of fear of dealing with the heavy, the hard, the human.

It’s not about making light of death. Rather, it’s a way to celebrate life and make the grief more bearable. An Irish wake is about being human and remembering the beauty and laughter of life.

LIGHTNESS IN THE DARK IS AGENCY

When we laugh, we don’t feel so powerless. As long as we have laughter in fearful times, in grief, in tough loss, we have power and agency to affirm life, no matter how hard.

Laughter lightens the unthinkable.. It’s about how you choose to reframe life’s challenges into chuckles in order to move forward.

Levity doesn’t mean not being serious about serious things. Instead, it's a courageous choice to choose lightness ESPECIALLY when things are hard.

Google “Shay Bradley funeral.” Ever a prankster, Shay pre-recorded a hilarious message to be played at this funeral.

THAT is how you do it. A total baller. Just like my great uncle.