Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. I’ve got more funny stories for you from Chicken Soup for the Soul: Laughter’s Always the Best Medicine. And today we’re talking about husbands and wives, and with wedding season coming this seems appropriate. Couples love to tell those slightly embarrassing hilarious stories about each other, and so do their kids. So let’s get started with a story by Sharon Pearson about a mistake that her father made that has become one of her family’s favorite memories.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul and I would imagine if you’ve been watching the news you might be looking for some comic relief. Well, if laughter is the best medicine then we have your prescription in the form of our latest humor book. I know some people think that Chicken Soup for the Soul is all about self-help or heartwarming stories but no, this is the eighth humor book that we’ve published since I became publisher in 2008. It’s filled with funny stories from 100 different writers, many of them making fun of themselves and sharing their most embarrassing moments. We’ve got stories about domestic disasters, wedding snafus, technology traumas, wardrobe malfunctions, words that came out wrong, mistaken identity, and all the other ways in which we find humor in our daily lives.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Today I’m going to share with you one of my most popular pieces on Medium. If you don’t know what Medium is, it’s a place where writers can get their short pieces published, either by themselves, or in someone else’s publication. I started getting published on Medium in April, mostly in two publications which feature interesting stories and great writing. This story appeared in a publication called Crow’s Feet, and it’s called “How I Knew My Mother Was Having a Stroke.” It’s a useful reminder of how to react if you think you might be witnessing someone having a stroke. Because, as the subtitle of my story says, Every minute counts when the brain is erasing itself.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Have you ever surprised yourself by doing something because you’re on a mission and then later you just can’t believe that you pulled that off? Sometimes, we just fly right through our comfort zones because we’re so focused on what we’re trying to accomplish. It’s cool when that happens because I feel like it permanently changes you—you never go back all the way to how you were before. You now know that you can things that you didn’t think were possible.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Do you ever feel like you’re missing out because you’re starting to resist doing new things? I know I have to fight against that impulse all the time, that impulse to avoid new things even for simple reasons like I don’t know where to park at whatever place I’m thinking of going. It’s really easy to fall into a rut and accidentally let your world become smaller.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. With winter ending, you may be seeing more action in your calendar, and this reminds me that we’ve published a lot of stories from people who realized that OTHER PEOPLE were taking over their calendars and imposing activities on them that they DID NOT WANT TO DO. I don’t know if you’ve ever found yourself saying, “I should do that, or I should see that person, or I should help out at that event” but you really don’t want to. And other people don’t seem to find themselves always saddled with these obligations.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. With spring on its way, I thought it would be good to talk about nature and why you should go on a nature kick and get out there. I noticed that we started getting a lot more stories about going outside during the pandemic when people were focused on what they could do while at home and they seemed to rediscover the outdoors.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and with spring coming, it’s getting more colorful out there. But what about color in our lives, not just in nature? Today I want to talk about color and boldness and stepping forward to participate more in life. Whether it’s your clothing, your home décor, or the projects that you do, are you having fun with color? What prompts me to ask this is a terrific story that we published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Curvy & Confident. The story is called “A Flowering” because that’s what it’s about—a person learning to blossom instead of hiding herself.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Do you ever think that maybe you should focus a little more on stepping outside your comfort zone and broadening your world? I think we all have the tendency to stop doing new things… because it’s easier. But then we’re surprised when we try doing something new, or going to a new place, or meeting a new person, and we really enjoy it. Saying “yes” is something that we can ALL do, and it only takes a second to just plain decide that you will make that your new policy.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Today I’m going to share with you my most popular piece on Medium. If you don’t know what Medium is, it’s a place where writers can get their short pieces published, either by themselves, or in someone else’s publication. I started getting published on Medium in April, mostly on two publications which feature interesting stories and great writing. My most popular story so far appeared on a publication called Crow’s Feet, and it’s called “What You Shouldn't Say to a Cancer Patient.” I wrote it one night after having a couple of glasses of wine and it’s basically a rant about all the things that well meaning people said to me when I was diagnosed with cancer. So, if you’ve ever had cancer, I think you’ll enjoy this. And if you never know what to say when someone shares their bad news with you, perhaps this will help.

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