Finding joy in midlife can feel impossible during stress, divorce, or reinvention — but joy and laughter are powerful tools for healing, nervous system regulation, and resilience. In this Saddle Up segment, Lesa Koski shares why joy is essential for healing, how laughter resets the nervous system, and how finding joy can transform your midlife experience.

If you’ve been white-knuckling your way through life, this episode will help you understand why joy is essential for healing and why laughter may be one of the most important tools for emotional wellness. Lesa shares personal stories, practical ways to add joy into daily life, and insights from her recent conversation with Rabbi Bob Alper.

You’ll learn how joy supports nervous system health, reduces stress, and creates space for reinvention. This episode is especially powerful for women navigating midlife transitions, divorce recovery, and personal reinvention.

Joy is essential for healing. And sometimes, it begins with laughter.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction to this week’s Saddle Up segment

(01:10) Why joy becomes essential during midlife transitions

(02:35) The powerful story shared by Rabbi Bob Alper

(04:20) How laughter resets the nervous system

(06:10) Lesa’s personal journey from white-knuckling to finding joy

(08:05) Simple ways to intentionally add joy into daily life

(10:15) Why joy improves stress, health, and emotional resilience

(12:05) Encouragement for listeners navigating heavy seasons

Key Takeaways:

• Joy helps regulate the nervous system and reduce chronic stress

• Laughter provides emotional relief even during difficult circumstances

• Midlife reinvention requires emotional lightness, not just discipline

• Small intentional moments of joy can significantly improve well-being

• White-knuckling life increases stress, while joy supports healing

Welcome to this week's Saddle Up segment.

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I am so thankful that you're here.

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And Tuesday's episode

was powerful and fun.

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It was with a Rabbi Bob

Elber, and he's darling.

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He was a rabbi and he became a standup

comedian, and it just helped me

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remember how I have learned recently

how important joy is in our lives.

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And I know this might sound heavy

or weird, if you're going through

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a heavy circumstance, you're like,

how am I supposed to feel the joy?

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I want you to know.

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I get that, and I feel like oddly,

maybe there are degrees of joy or like

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maybe it can be kind of a restful, quiet

period that can then blossom into joy.

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What I am really trying to do, and I

know like what I did, um, you know,

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those years ago when I was, um, going

through hard things, I would try to

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find laughter and Rabbi Bob helped me

remember that he told a sweet story

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about how he had done, um, some work.

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As a standup comedian and a woman came

up to him who had terminal cancer and

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she linked him and she said, for an

hour and a half, I forgot that I had

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this and that I was dealing with this.

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And you guys, it is like a wholly.

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Holy thing to be joyful

and to find laughter.

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I think it's even biblical.

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And here's the thing that we forget about.

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It can reset our nervous system,

and I know that sometimes

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it's hard to find the joy.

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It's hard to find the things that are fun,

but it's one of the most important piece.

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You know, you know me.

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I have been a white knuckler.

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I have been trying to do everything

perfect my whole life and it

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kind of blew up in my face.

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And now I am working to find the joy.

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And here's something, um, that maybe

you can hold onto along with me is

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when I have to do something that

I don't really want to do, I try

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to do something fun along with it.

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Um.

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Okay, like, here's an example.

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My hubby and I are gonna work on our

finances and I'm like, Hey, let's go

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to that cute coffee shop and do it

there and get like a matcha green tea

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because that's adding a little fun.

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To something that doesn't seem so fun.

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So that's one way you can find joy,

other, other ways, or you can find

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comedians, find things to laugh about.

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I have found that when I become aware

of it, I laugh easier because I, I think

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I used to stop myself sometimes from

like judging it or whatever, whatever.

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Now I just laugh.

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Um.

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I laugh at my grandkids laugh when

my husband, you know, tells a joke.

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I used to be afraid that if I laughed,

he wouldn't stop, which probably is true,

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but we have a lot more fun and it is.

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One of the biggest pieces that was

missing from my life was that joy

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that, um, having fun with your friends,

that was the piece that I was missing,

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and I am just starting to figure

out that one piece that was missing,

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you know, I've shared with you how.

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Eaten well, I've exercised, well, I've

even been improving my sleep, but I

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could not get that stress to go down.

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And it's starting to, and I

swear it's adding the fun.

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And then one more thing, I'm gonna

hit you with this If you're a midlife

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woman, I did a lot of research and

I used to be coached on intermittent

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fasting and how that was so good for me.

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Guess what?

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It wasn't not even the intermittent.

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What I've learned is that my stress goes

down when I start the day with a protein.

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I'm still trying to eat really healthy.

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I'm working out a lot, but I'm adding

protein, um, in the morning, not, I'm

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eating between seven 30 and seven 30.

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I'm adding another protein like at three.

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And I am having like restored days

according to this little aura ring.

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So I just had to throw that little

caveat in there because if you're like

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me, we've white knuckled it through so

much of our lives and sometimes that can

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cause more harm then Good a lot of times.

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So I just um, wanna, you know, let you

know, go back, listen to Tuesday's effort.

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Episode, but just don't

forget about laughter and joy.

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It is good for your nervous system.

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It is good for your body.

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It is so good for you, and I'm gonna

keep on searching for that joy.

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So you just email me if you've got

some great ideas on how to find

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joy and laughter in your lives.

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I wanna hear from you.

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Thanks so much.