How to feel happier at the start of a new term - we’re going all Adele on you!

When we sat down to write a post about how to feel happier at the start of a new term, we were tempted to give you our best advice about happiness. After all, it’s our bread and butter. But then we realised something… you’ll probably read lots of those types of posts at this time of year. Full of advice on how to feel happier or get a better work/life balance. 

And while that’s great, we don’t like being like everyone else. So we’ve gone for something a little bit different - a new angle if you want to get mathematical about it. Inspired by that reunion between Adele and her English teacher, Miss Macdonald, we wanted to share some of our own stories of teachers who helped and inspired us.

Why?

Because one of the best ways to get through the January blues is to be grateful. Saying thank you or thinking about someone who was kind to you increases serotonin levels and can combat loneliness. Even better is doing something kind. 

Laughology’s new year’s resolution is to be kind throughout the year with our Happiness Fund. As we work towards the International Day of Happiness in March, we want to really impact happiness by supporting communities. 

Our starting point is thanking the teachers that were kind to us… Enjoy!

Stephanie Davies and Mrs Harmer

To say I was a bit difficult at school might be an understatement if you ask some of my teachers. I was the class clown and as long as I was getting a laugh, I didn’t care too much about how I did it. This often meant pranks that impacted the teacher, disrupting lessons and uncontrollable laughter. I wasn’t particularly liked by teachers at school. Most put up with me, some would laugh at my jokes but most actively tried to remove me from the classroom and school. I was the class joker and I was punished for it. No one ever sat me down and talked to me.

No one asked what was going on in my life to drive the behaviours I was exhibiting. No one looked for a cause. Instead, I was a square peg being bashed into a round hole. And when I didn’t fit, I was labelled as the naughty kid and written off, consigned to a school life of detentions and suspensions.

All that changed with Mrs Harmer. While all the other teachers washed their hands of the problem kid, she took an interest. She talked to me. She found out what interested me and what lay behind my troubles. She could see something the other teachers couldn’t see. She could see the potential. Mrs Harmer encouraged my interest in performance and drama. She was the reason I finished school and didn’t drop out altogether. She gave me confidence, something I’d never really had before.

When she recommended that I sign up for a script and screen workshop, I was apprehensive at first, but she encouraged me. It changed my life. Those two days set me on a path that hasn’t always been easy but has made me the person I am today. I realised at that workshop that I was good at something and that I’d found my calling in life.

It wasn’t easy because I struggled with the writing part (although I’d never been diagnosed at that point, I have a mild form of dyslexia). The script I wrote was a comedy - people actually laughed when I performed it (which is always a bonus with comedy). 

When I got back to school I couldn’t wait to tell Mrs Harmer and she was proud of me, which again, was a new experience for me. From then on I wanted to show that I did have potential and after I finished school and scraped through the sixth form, I won a place at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. I finished my degree and pursued a career in stand-up comedy. Later on, I wanted to help others, as Mrs Harmer had helped me. I started using stand-up as a way to help other young people like me in school who had disengaged. 

As time went on I learnt more about learning and the brain and completed my masters in psychology in 2010. By this time I had set up Laughology and in 2011, my book was published - Laughology: Improve Your Life with the Science of Laughter. I had a launch party and invited Mrs Harmer. I was overjoyed when she got back in touch and had the opportunity to tell her what a huge, positive impact she’d had on my life and that all this was down to her believing in me. After the event, we kept in touch and she told me some sad news. She had cancer. And a while later, after a brave fight, she succumbed to the disease.    

It was terribly sad news. The world is a darker place without her and I’m so grateful I got the opportunity to thank her and to let her know what her care and understanding had done for me.

Thankfully, having worked in countless schools with amazing teachers, I now know there are lots more Mrs Harmers out there, spending time with pupils who might otherwise be written off by the system. 

Sometimes it just takes one person to make a huge difference.

Kerry Leigh and Mr Pickett

My drama teacher in high school in Australia had a profound impact on me and my class. He made quite an entrance on his first day, plonking down his briefcase, announcing: 'Pickett's the name, teaching's the game - have chalk, will travel.' 

He got to know us all and genuinely cared about us and treated us equally. I remember noticing people who hadn't been typical success stories in high school so far really flourishing in his class. He listened to us and spoke to us like adults and we loved him. My friends in Oz are still in touch with him now.

Sarah Creegan and Mrs Cook

When I was 6, I had Mrs Cook at Manor Leas Primary School. She had a reputation as a very strict teacher but, when you were in her class, she was just kind, firm and fair. As a ‘bouncy’ child I knew where I stood and I liked that. I also loved that she used competition and confectionery bribes - bearing in mind this was the ‘70s and there were no ‘healthy schools’! 

I was the first one to get a lolly for learning to tie my laces. I don’t think I ever won anything again at primary or secondary school - so maybe that’s the real reason why Mrs Cook was my favourite!

Vicky Rowan and Mr Munsen

I don’t remember a lot from school, but I do remember a few of Mr Munsen’s lessons, as he always made them fun and he was really animated. He was a bit like a mad professor. He’d get us to move about a lot – and work on fun exercises together. 

I remember one of them vividly, which was how to create a bridge with a strong structure – what I took away from it was the importance and strength of iron girders in building structures. Something I’m so not interested in – but he definitely made it interesting!