Stress, Exercise, and Laughter

HeadRoom

Angela Matthews, chairperson of the LCC Board of Trustees, defines herself as a community activist. She wants everyone to know that college is possible, and that it’s okay to figure things out as you follow your heart's desire. Like so many other guests, she highlights that one of the things that made college so hard was trying to figure things out on her own. She finally graduated and got a degree in Human Services, working in the field for 26 years before she came back for a bachelor’s degree. She had to learn how to become a better student and to reach out for assistance from academic coaches, advisors, and counselors. Embracing vulnerability was a necessary and fruitful step in her own personal development.

As a returning adult learner herself, she wants everyone to know that they are welcome at LCC, and she encourages them to push through and finish their academic goals. She highlights the importance of relying on one’s “tribe” - to include academic support as well as family and friends - in order to finish. She highlights the concept of being “functionally dysfunctional”, meaning that too many people mistake being functional for being healthy. We all have practiced pretending and faking it to make it, but Angela talks about the importance of taking a moment to examine one’s inner anxieties and exploring what really needs to be done to achieve health. Speaking on behalf of the Black community in America, she talks about how difficult it was to go public in her community about experiencing mental health challenges and seeking mental health support, and wants to see mental health support destigmatized in all communities. Finally, she talks about the importance of exercise, seeking joy, and recognizing that self-care is not self-ish.

• Laughter is good medicine, Mayo Clinic.
• A laugh a day keeps the doctor away, Harvard Press.
• Exercise reduces Anxiety and Depression, National Library of Medicine.