coping
Life presents variables; learning how to cope in order to master, minimize, or tolerate what has come to pass.
When My World Paused for a Stranger - Austin Shivaji Kumar
I remember the exact platform. Dadar station. The financial and chaos capital of Mumbai. The kind of place where the air feels thick with movement, where a thousand footsteps stomp through your silence. You don’t get a second to think. Or feel.
By Austin Shivaji Kumar10 months ago in Psyche
The Forgotten Language of Touch: How Physical Contact Shapes Our Emotional Well-being
In a world dominated by screens and digital expressions, we have learned to communicate through messages, emojis, and reactions. We connect in online meetings, express love with virtual hearts, and offer condolences through comment sections. Yet, in our reliance on words and technology, we’ve drifted away from one of the oldest and most profound forms of communication—physical touch.
By Mysteries with Professor Jahani10 months ago in Psyche
The Invisible Weight: Living with the Emotional Baggage We Don’t Talk About
The Backpack No One Sees When my friend Julia died suddenly in a car accident, her husband, Mark, showed up to her funeral wearing a crisp suit and a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He shook hands, accepted casseroles, and thanked everyone for their support. Two years later, at a dinner party, he casually mentioned he still sets a place for her at the table. The room fell silent. No one knew what to say—not because they didn’t care, but because grief, like so much of our emotional baggage, lives in the shadows.
By Mysteries with Professor Jahani10 months ago in Psyche
How Small Acts of Kindness Changed My Perspective on the World
The Day a Stranger’s Umbrella Taught Me About Humanity It was a gray, drizzly afternoon in Kyoto when I first grasped the quiet power of kindness. I stood outside a train station, drenched and frustrated, silently berating myself for forgetting my umbrella. Out of nowhere, a woman in her sixties—her silver hair peeking beneath a sunhat despite the rain—paused beside me. Without speaking, she opened her bright red umbrella and held it over both of us. We walked in silence for two blocks until she nodded toward my destination: a tucked-away tea shop. When I thanked her, she smiled and said, “The rain feels lighter when shared.” Her words lingered long after the clouds parted.
By Mysteries with Professor Jahani10 months ago in Psyche
Migraines and Medication. Content Warning.
CW: References to severe chronic pain, dismissal by doctors, and drug addiction. This is a trauma dump in some ways. It’s not really something you can understand unless you’ve lived it. So right now, for a few minutes, I invite you to live it with me: the dread and confusion of being a medical-mystery child.
By Brynne Nelson10 months ago in Psyche
Tumours Change Everything and Nothing At All
Inspiration stems from the iconic and unforgettable line from the New Amsterdam TV series where Dr Max Goodwin (played by Ryan Eggold) was told by one of his patients that "Cancer changes everything and nothing at all."
By Justine Crowley10 months ago in Psyche
Becoming My Own Gravity. Runner-Up in The Metamorphosis of the Mind Challenge. Top Story - April 2025.
I was standing at the end of a hospital bed, holding my son’s hand as tightly as I could, hoping if I held his hand, it would help to anchor him as we witnessed the unthinkable. He was about to turn twenty-two; she had just turned twenty-one six weeks earlier. He was in shock, not knowing how to process what he was seeing. I didn't know how to process what we were seeing. Thirty-six hours earlier, he had kissed her as she and her mother got into a cab to go to the hospital. At the time I could feel him trembling inside as he stood there stoically. I could feel his world slipping away beneath his feet as much as my own. The doctors and nurses had just taken her off life support. Tubes removed, monitors silenced. It had only been twelve days since she first felt that earache. Twelve days from ordinary to catastrophic. The doctor called her time of death within two minutes. This was the pivotal moment—an abrupt halt to life as I knew it, a violent scratch across the record of my life that had been playing. It was the moment we felt the ground beneath our feet disappear.
By Xine Segalas10 months ago in Psyche
I Confronted My Inner Child—and Everything Changed
We carry our past like invisible luggage—heavy, worn, and often forgotten. But what if the person who needs your attention the most isn’t a stranger or even someone from the outside world? What if it’s the child you used to be, waiting quietly within you, still hurting, still hoping? This is the story of how I came face to face with my inner child—and how that moment shattered everything I thought I knew about healing, self-worth, and personal growth.
By Gift Abotsi 10 months ago in Psyche
Worn Feet
Brains ask for a moment, but is it really ever just that? Days of eerie foreshadowing in circumstances that climbs in intensity steps growing large and shrinking puny to a heavenly blunderbuss. It would be nice to prop for the ammo, but…you never know—I never knew this would happen at the end of that trip, done medically sober. A little over 2,000 miles with bad travel compadres and clear roads, and it ends peacefully in an isolated, nervous conniption. A rough arrival home until I entered my apartment and saw the return of a world; I didn’t realize I was hysterically happy to leave as soon as possible. Nothing a quiet like a smoke and some sleep, but symptoms seventeen through eighty, hyperactive pacing, amid hyperventilating, for example, in a fit of malice panic, kicking right in at eleven o’clock for a period no shorter than four hours. No run-through of life should lead to equivalent waiting for the meteor no one knows about and won’t know about until it goes cut-sies in front of the moon. Steady melancholy of an idle mind asking for a brain to use for spare parts. I’m compatible with no one alive in this state. More furthering the manic despair into a period of my feet leaving tracks in the filthy carpet to the down trotting effortlessly into 'why not' with a leap through the living room windows on the line. Talking in laps because, of course, I gotta feed the vibe; I numbered every pro and con for top floor window airlines, not a line, a lie, not reason to put on anything but cement shoes to strut down a short pier. I can’t write cause I can’t sleep because of nightmares, can’t make [Redacted] stop fucking haunting every waking moment. There’s fucking nothing—
By Willem Indigo10 months ago in Psyche
Covert Narcissism: 10 Hidden Signs and How to Protect Yourself Emotionally
A delicate skill, covert narcissism is a sneaky technique of manipulation disguised under smiles, pretended apathy, and deliberate detachment. From my experience, there is a pattern — a set of hidden narcissist signals — that expose their actual character even if they carefully hide their methods. I will reveal ten hidden indicators of covert narcissism today and walk over how you could emotionally defend yourself from these poisonous tactics. Prepare yourself: many people overlook until it is too late the silent, but terrible, weaponizing of disengagement and other covert measures that follow.
By Waleed Ahmed10 months ago in Psyche
The Importance of Staying True to Yourself
Introduction: In a world full of distractions, expectations, and pressures, it can be easy to lose sight of who you truly are. Society often pushes us to fit into molds that aren’t aligned with our true selves, whether it’s through social media, peer influence, or even family dynamics. But staying true to yourself is one of the most important things you can do for your personal well-being and fulfillment. Living authentically allows you to be at peace with who you are, attract the right people into your life, and pursue your passions without fear or regret. In this article, we’ll explore the significance of staying true to yourself and how embracing your authenticity can lead to a richer, more fulfilling life.
By Inside the soul10 months ago in Psyche
