coping

Life presents variables; learning how to cope in order to master, minimize, or tolerate what has come to pass.

Small Moments, Big Memories
Arizona, as a whole, is a seemingly hot, desolate desert for most. But for me and my mother, it was an escape from the hell we had been experiencing. As abuse survivors, we were looking for a new start, and Scottsdale, Arizona is where we were able to find that.
By MA Bridge5 years ago in Psyche
The South Facing Window
After months of ignoring it, my hip pain had grown to the point that I needed to seek medical attention. The usual pain relievers were no longer up to the task. So I started by asking a good friend of mine for help (who just happened to be a Medical Doctor). Unfortunately, she didn’t live close enough to be able to treat me herself, but she did have a recommendation for a good Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO). After suffering a few more weeks, I finally gave in and made the appointment.
By Carolyn Fields5 years ago in Psyche
Before I Fall Apart
What are you supposed to do when your life suddenly turns on its head? What are you supposed to do when that time comes right before the tutorial for life is finished? Granted, the tutorial we’re all offered tends to be a pretty bad one, but how are we supposed to know the difference until we reach that next stage and realize how poorly prepared we were?
By Richard Belarde5 years ago in Psyche
Thoughts on Feeling Safe
I’ve tried to write this essay on feeling safe like four times now. The last month has been very tumultuous for me. It’s usually really small things that cause the most upheaval too. Back when I still had a job, someone could be harassing women in the store, and I’d be right in their space telling them not to. There was that time when someone pulled a knife on our security guy and blood went everywhere and I was just like, well, then. Startle me from behind and I’ll have a panic attack so intense I might pass right on out. I expect no one has ever said that a panic disorder was even remotely rational.
By Duointherain5 years ago in Psyche
On days like these.
On days like these... I have nothing to say. Nothing to feel. Nothing to give. Nothing to offer anyone, nothing to offer even to myself.
By On the edge of consciousness5 years ago in Psyche
A Lesson in Loneliness
The house was dark. Yet it felt more than that. I stared at the ceiling, time dripping away from my consciousness; my stillness adding aches to my otherwise numb vessel. Tones and shades of gray splashed across my small dwelling, lacking any noticeable sounds of life other than my own insistent breaths. I rolled to my side to sooth the pain swelling in my lower back only to be met with a familiar tinge pinging my shoulder.
By Terrace Gibson5 years ago in Psyche
Love not Hate
Jealousy. Such an ugly and awful emotion. One that I feel regularly. Most of the time it stems from seeing I never had, witnessing a connection that I missed out on. Most of the time it rears its head in the least helpful times. It's hard to explain the pain I feel with it. Even harder to explain why I distance myself in these moments.
By Tabitha White5 years ago in Psyche
A Gasp of Air
We all experience sadness at some point throughout our lives, if it's losing a family member or the end of a relationship. It all hurts. Everyone hurts. And it is important to know that it's ok to hurt, it's ok to feel sad, it's ok to not be ok! But for some it can hit a lot harder in the form of depression.
By Ben Talbot5 years ago in Psyche
Entanglements & Etymologies
The Inevitability of entanglement in this cosmos in which we reside is a tenant of it's habitability. On every level, from the macro cosym beneath the soil, to the mingling gases and nebulae where the building blocks of mass are born. Within each of us miraculous manifestations of light and sound completely unique notes in the song. Finding ways to operate within this framework, which is a vast encyclopedia of information and inspiration we could change the meaning of the word entanglement from a unfortunate circumstance to one of freedom and limitless potential. If you operate amidst the laws of the entanglement. The level to which you are able to perceive the benefit of how things are actually entangled, On a chemical, biological, and atomic level, the more you can learn to operate within them. The more limitless the potential.
By Sarah St.Erth5 years ago in Psyche
Mind vs Brain
Think about it for a second. Think about it in solely a corporeal lens. We are creatures of survival. Not just in the big, 127-Hours-type situations, but in the day-to-day. Our bodies tell us what we need to do when we need to do it. We need energy to fuel our bodies so our tummies gurgle and the smells of food become very appealing and we eventually find a way to consume nourishment. We need sleep so our brains produce melatonin in a relatively diurnal (pause for students and insomniacs) rhythm and we begin to slow in bodily function, recline and fall into a slumber. Many of these routine things we do are because our bodies signal the need for it. But our bodies are truly nothing without the brain in both the physical and mental process. Our brain is the mastermind (literally) of the whole operation, the reason we survive. We breathe at pace because the mastermind knows how much oxygen we need, we gain adrenaline that gives us extra power to battle or flee in situations of danger, and we do these things seemingly instinctually when the circumstance arises. But the brain has a separate domain, the one that I'll call the mind for delineation purposes only, that becomes the reason some may decide to cease existence. Now think about that for a second. We are wired to do anything it takes to survive but there is another realm in the mind that can override all of that natural action and instead put oneself into the situation our brains actively avoid. Death means different things for different people, so here's my take.
By Arya5 years ago in Psyche
It is Perfectly Okay to Admit You Are Not Okay
Question – There are days that I just don’t want to do this life thing any more. I am constantly thinking I need to leave this earth life behind. It is just too much to bare. Day after day, I just don’t want to be living. I hate these horrible thoughts in my head. Are they real? Are they a prompting I need to follow through with or can it be stopped or healed? What is going on?
By Kristena Eden5 years ago in Psyche
The Corners of My Mind
My words were difficult to read, he said. “They’re not exactly a picnic to write,” I answered. “But if you really want to see what’s in my head…”
By Christa Leigh5 years ago in Psyche