My Coping Mechanisms

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There’s not really a reason to type this anywhere, but I felt like listing all my coping mechanisms, ranging from normal to really weird.

-Music
I love music. It’s literally all I spend my time doing. I’m always listening to music, or playing music. It helps me process the world and make sense of it when its scary. Some of my favorite artists include (But not limited to):

Amanda Palmer
Jack Stauber
Bo Burnham
Lemon Demon
The Gorillaz

-Art
I’ve also poured a lot of my time into art. I love to draw, animate, etc. It’s relaxing and helps me express my feelings through something other than words.

-Poetry
I’m just a good poet. People like my poems. Even my english teacher, who’s an honors teacher and is really really really tough when it comes to grading.

-Politics
Okay now we’re getting to weird coping mechanism territory. There was a point where my political beliefs were the only thing keeping me going. I still spend a lot of my time thinking about it at night. I don’t know, is that weird?

-Russian
This ones weird. I’m close to being intermediate at Russian just because it’s a coping mechanism. I calm down when I learn it and speak it, even just reading it. I listen to some russian musicians and if i find out a song I like is in russian, it makes me happy.

-Thinking about the story I’m writing
This one isn’t quite as weird or random, but it’s still not something I see everyone doing. I’ll listen to songs and attach them to my characters, think up scenarios between them, I’ve spent over a year writing this and it’s LONG. There’s 11 characters and they’re all fully developed, it’s weird.

-Watching the same shows on repeat
I’ve watched the entirety of Bojack Horseman twice, I’ve watched Bo Burnhams inside way too many times to count. It has to be something I’ve already watched. New things can make me more upset. If I know what’s coming, and I know what in the show makes me sad, then I can prepare for it.

anyways thats my long and weird list of coping mechanisms-

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These are great coping mechanisms @TheRats, and it doesn’t sound weird at all. There really isn’t anything wrong because these are things that make sense to you, that happen to be effective for you, and are absolutely healthy/non-harmful. I particularly resonate with the art and watching the same shows. For the second one, you describe it so well: there is something familiar - so safe and comfortable. It helps to know what is going to happen and what emotions it could provoke. That’s often what kids do (and what we’ve done as kids): rewatching the same things over and over without getting bored. It simply brings comfort. :hrtlegolove:

It’s also a good exercise to take the time to list these coping mechanisms. Always a good reminder for when your mind wander into places you don’t want to go, and to not forget that you are still in control even during dark times. It also makes so much more sense to have a personal list made of your choices and experiences, rather than something generic suggested to everyone.

This is really good, friend. Well done.

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Hey TheRats!

EsRivs shared your post today live on stream and asked chatters to share their own coping mechanisms!

Here is a link to the video if you would like to hear some of the other coping mechanisms shared!

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I’m glad I inspired someone else to learn russian :smile:

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These are awesome! Thanks so much for sharing. I often use thinking about the story I’m writing as a grounding technique and it works WONDERS

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Hey @TheRats

These sound like awesome coping mechanisms because they work for YOU…nothing wrong with them at all. They are your passions and things you choose to pour yourself into and this list is diverse. Keep at it!

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