coping

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

What You Need to Be Doing to Combat Your Depression
I’d always been one of those people who heard someone saying they’re going to the gym and said, “What?! Why?! You’re crazy!” Exercising for fun in your free time—that’s weird, right?
By Kathy Anderson8 years ago in Psyche
Anxiety Runs My Life
One door, rattling in the air conditioner, back right light flickering continuously, and my mind unable to focus. Anxiety follows me everywhere I go, no matter the time or where I am at. After the military, I began to experience high levels of anxiety—so much so I would stay in my apartment most of the time with little contact with the outside world. During this period of my life, I was in so much emotional pain I felt that there was no recovering.
By Richard Rymer8 years ago in Psyche
Finding Yourself When You Thought You Were Already Found
Your mind can take you to amazing places. It can also take you to terrifying places. It can tease you, trick you, comfort you, and everything in between.
By Miranda Pf.8 years ago in Psyche
10 Tips to Improve Your Emotional Intelligence
While there are people out there who are masters at using the right feelings at the right times and never losing control over them... there are also others who don't know how to work their emotions. Since we're gifted with the use of feelings, we apply ours differently to certain moments. We'll get happy after accomplishing a goal. Upset when we lose a basketball game. Jealous if we see our significant other talking to someone. And even pissed off when we see our ex. It's the beauty of being human, and since emotions are pretty complex, there are times when they're difficult to handle.
By Penny Newton8 years ago in Psyche
5 Ways I 'Calm' Down
Anyone who struggles with anxiety knows how frustrating it is to be told to calm down. "Calm down" is possibly the worst thing a person can say to me if I am fighting off anxious thoughts or feelings. Even mentally or verbally telling myself to calm down instantly worsens a situation. It troubled me when I thought about this recently, because calm is a wonderful concept. It's a word that, when I am not in the middle of a panic attack, fills me with the deepest shades of blue. It's a word that reminds me of fluffy blankets and terrible Jane Austen adaptations. It's a word I aspire to be. Why, then, does the word fill me with guilt and misery and fear when I attempt to use it at a time that would seem most appropriate?
By Nathalie Foster8 years ago in Psyche
When Your Brain Is Your Own Worst Enemy
There are times when it feels like your mind is your own worst enemy, and there are times when it is. As well as many others, I want people who feel like this to know that they're not alone, and also to know that they are not going mad.
By Sophia Merici8 years ago in Psyche
The Crazy in Me
“Don’t tell anyone that.” My dad said when I told him I like to talk to myself while daydreaming and, after I attempting to once again describe the chaos in my head. I failed another test in school and he kept telling me I wasn’t focused enough. Well how can you focus when you have a million thoughts running through your head and most of them aren’t even yours?
By Miracle Davis8 years ago in Psyche
Daddy Issues
The first time that I cut myself, I was 12 years old. I had seen it in movies and TV shows, and I experienced trying to talk my classmate out of self-harm before I fully understood what it was and that it wasn't just something for "emo" and "goth" kids to do to spite their parents and the system. As my ten-year-old brain grew into a 12-year-old brain, I now saw self-harm as a good way to express my newly addressed hatred of myself. When I got in the shower before school, I used the edge of a face wash bottle to scratch my wrists. It left many small red marks on my arms, and I felt satisfied that I was able to go through with such a "bold" move. When I put on my uniform and headed for my strictly close-minded, Christian school, I realized that the red marks on my arms had not gone away. Considering that students weren't allowed to wear makeup or jewelry or nail polish or smiles, I assumed this may be a major problem. As well as it being the first time that I cut myself, it was also the first time that I had to hide it; there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted self-harm to be a private ritual of my own that I refused to share with anyone else.
By Mercy P8 years ago in Psyche
The Lengths I Will Go to JUST to Prove a Point
My life feels like it is in constant turmoil. It is. I'm moving. I'm broke. I'm failing classes. I for some reason keep dating addicts. I could write about all of that. I could even have told you about my first job. I could write about discovering my favorite TV show. I could tell you what it's like to wake up driving a car. None of these events were really shocking. They really didn’t inspire me. They are all after tremors of the only event that has ever saved my life. It isn’t a good thing. It isn’t a complicated thing. I’m not the only person who experienced it. There is absolutely nothing "special” about losing a friend.
By Marissa shook8 years ago in Psyche
How My Journal Became My Therapy Weapon
When my job counselor, Nadia, asked me what I thought my strengths were in terms of work, I couldn't answer her. Because frankly, I couldn't remember.
By Aelita Yoon8 years ago in Psyche
Dear Dementia
You're a thief. There's no cure for you, there's no way out of your grasp, there's nothing can stop you. Nothing but pain is what you leave behind. You're not a disease, but a syndrome. People never realize how much the human mind is worth until they meet you. You suck.
By Kiley Henry8 years ago in Psyche
Schizoaffective Disorder and Horror Video Games
One look at my Twitch’s history and you’ll find that I have a pretty specific video game genre of choice: horror. I love a good psychological thriller, slasher, fourth wall breaking, or otherwise, game that will make me jump and scream. On a deeper level, I love video games that trigger my psychosis and brings the monsters that I meet in my mind, to my TV screen.
By Fiona Wong8 years ago in Psyche