Ep. 66 - Karen Eddington | Dealing with Pressure: Comedy, Communities, & Self-Care

Karen Eddington is a comedian, speaker, researcher, and the author of Understanding Self-Worth. She uses her experience in stand-up comedy and improv to teach laughter as a form of self-care.   For 15 years, Karen has researched identity to look for patterns and create original solutions that help people “Under Pressure.” Although The Under Pressure Project started as an effort to understand the biggest pressures faced by teens, it has grown into a mission to heal the most universal and dangerous experience we all share.   The one thing that we all have in common, which Karen describes as “the most universal and dangerous experience we can have,” is mental isolation: The times we feel alone in our mind because we feel diminished, flawed, or excluded   The best solution for getting through this terrible but universal experience is to develop a support network, and anyone can learn how to create supportive communities by practicing comedy.   Comedy vs Pressure   While Karen was researching The Under Pressure Project, she was also getting into comedy for the first time, and she started making some useful connections. She was able to bring in comedy to relieve that pressure and isolation.   As we’ve mentioned on the podcast before, the principles of improvisation and comedy are incredibly powerful in networking situations, professional environments, and just regular ol’ social situations. One extremely powerful tool that Karen likes to use is shared laughter: those moments where we connect as humans through vulnerability and humor.   When you combine Karen’s research with a repertoire of practiced comedic tools (like misdirection or Yes, And), you can learn how to create experiences of shared laughter in any situation, and as a result, create communities that support each other; you can heal mental isolation.   “Laughter heals and strengthens us, when sometimes nothing else can.” –Karen Eddington Resources: Learn more at KarenEddington.com Watch Karen’s TEDxTalk: “The connecting power of shared laughter” Watch Karen’s speaking & stand-up -- Production & Development for Improv Is No Joke by Podcast Masters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices