coping
Life presents variables; learning how to cope in order to master, minimize, or tolerate what has come to pass.
Nostalgia: The World's Most Prevalent Mental Illness
Nostalgia is a sickening, disgusting, soul-crushing experience that I would never wish on any human worthy of happiness -- yet it is something that seems hardwired into us the same way that trauma might be, or excitement. It is comforting, yet sinister, a reminder of our finite experience on this planet. It is intertwined with the five senses so beautifully, but so abruptly. The smell of the first Bath & Body Works fragrance your mom ever bought for you transports you to your mind's clips and scenes of your eighth grade math classroom, just before everything got weird, before you spent weeks inside. The melody to that old song that played on the car radio gets stuck in your head, until you remember the summer you spent camping with a little boombox sitting on a stump playing the 2010s pop radio station. You get tense when you see someone walking down the street wearing the same outfit your ex-boyfriend wore five years ago, or feel a warmth in your heart eating mom’s home-cooked meals that you haven't had in a while. Maybe when someone hugs you just like your grandma did, you feel a bit of emptiness accompanying the warm embrace.
By Sophia Conn2 months ago in Psyche
Dialogues Across Time. AI-Generated.
I feel we are at the corner of something revolutionary and yet evolutionarily necessitated. Some psychologists acknowledge only the past century as a time for our field when it has been alive and well, but giving credit to the late Charles Darwin means first acknowledging the agencies that formed out of novel curiosity, which would eventually call the field home. Psychology evolves, sometimes quickly, but the questions at its core remain the same.
By Inner Terrain w/ Daniel Chapman2 months ago in Psyche
If One Day is too Much
Motivation is a thing with feathers. Similarly fleeting, what we call "mental health" can be found on uneven grounds. For many, looking back on their life is seeing a patchwork of very different emotional and physical states, and such is life.
By Avocado Nunzella BSc (Psych) -- M.A.P 2 months ago in Psyche
Weight of Unspoken Things
Have you ever swallowed your truth so many times that silence begins to feel safer than honesty? What's your why? For a long time, expressing myself felt like stepping into dangerous territory. Territory guarded by expectations, traditions, and unspoken rules I never agreed to but still inherited.
By MB | Stories & More2 months ago in Psyche
The Application That Said No. AI-Generated.
Application rejected. Application rejected. Application rejected. Zara Malik refreshed her email for the hundredth time that day, hoping the words would somehow change. They didn't. Seventy-three job applications in four months. Seventy-three rejections, or worse—silence.
By The 9x Fawdi2 months ago in Psyche
The Town That Forgot to Dream. AI-Generated.
Riverbank, population 387, had exactly one traffic light, two churches, and zero reasons for anyone under thirty to stay. Grace Holloway knew this because she'd watched ninety-two percent of her high school graduating class leave and never return. The ambitious ones went to college and found careers in cities with actual opportunities. The realistic ones took jobs in nearby towns with functioning economies. The unlucky ones stayed in Riverbank, working at the gas station or the diner, watching their dreams shrink to fit the town's limitations.
By The 9x Fawdi2 months ago in Psyche
Watch out Wednesdays - 12/3/25
Here are some key things to watch out for today on Watch out Wednesdays! - Observe how people treat you today. Take the time to evaluate your interactions with people throughout the day. These evaluations will open your eyes to see which relationships that you need to keep and which people that you need to keep at arm's length. Make today the day that you will no longer keep those who want to hurt you close to you.
By Adrian Holman2 months ago in Psyche
Setting Guilt-Free Boundaries
Boundaries are not intended as a sole mechanism to avoid people pleasing, trauma, confrontation, and/or discomfort. Not all boundaries are healthy. Healthy boundaries send out a powerful message to the world that you truly care about yourself. That you matter. That you are putting yourself first - even if it is only for a change to begin with. That is a powerful start. That is the ultimate level of self-care. This is not a luxury in this stone age. This is a necessity. Then again, rock music group Nirvana (adequately put) sang out loud to "come as you are."
By Justine Crowley2 months ago in Psyche
Leave Your Past Behind
Once upon a time, there was a bird in the forest. This bird was very kind and beautiful. But for a while, it started doing something strange. Every day, whatever it saw, heard or felt, good or bad, it would write down on small stones. Then it would store them in a small bag and fly away. Whether the memory was happy or sad, the bird believed that every moment was worth remembering. It became a habit and even found pleasure in it. It believed that beautiful memories should be preserved forever because such moments may never come back. Even bad experiences were meant to teach it something, so they should be written down too. First of all, it was pleasant for the bird. Every day he would write his experiences on the stones and fill the bag. But as time passed, this habit became stronger. The bag was filled with new stones every day. As a result, it became difficult for the bird to fly. Still, he still believed that all these memories would come in handy one day. That little bag became a treasure for his life. But as time passed, the bag became heavier. The more stones he put in, the heavier it became and it gradually began to affect the bird's wings. Now he could no longer fly as fast or high as before. One day on the way, the bird met a wise old owl. "Little bird," the owl asked, "why did you carry this bag?" The bird smiled and replied, "This bag contains everything in my life, all its joys and sorrows, every lesson from my past." The owl bowed its head and said, "So are you alive in the present? Or are you flying with the weight of yesterday's memories?" The bird did not understand. It flew away. But this time, the flight felt heavier and more painful. Weeks passed. Now the bag was full. The bird could barely lift it off the ground. Its wings ached. It had no strength left. Still, it dragged the bag with it as it walked. One rainy day, as the bird tried to move forward, it slipped. The weight of the stones crushed its fragile body. It lay still, buried under the memories that it once considered the key to its survival. But now those memories had destroyed it. When the rain stopped, some birds flew away. But the little bird had already flown away. Before long, the owl arrived. It looked at the silent bird with sadness in its eyes and whispered, "Memories are there to guide us, not to burden us." This short story teaches us a powerful lesson. Good or bad, memories should be left in the past. We should learn to let go and move on. We should not keep everything with us. We often do that. We collect every little memory, good or bad. But if we carry the burden of the past every day, eventually we will get tired inside. We fail to enjoy the present and cannot move forward into the future. Like birds, many people cling to the pain or even the joys of the past for too long. But life is all about letting go. We cannot get back what we have lost. But we can make our day beautiful. So let go of the past, good or bad, and learn to live in the present. Because we cannot change tomorrow, but we can shape today. Try new experiences, do something new, and create something meaningful in our life. Forgive, forget, move on, feel something new, take new steps, and be at peace.
By Abdur Rahman2 months ago in Psyche
Behind the Screen: How E-Commerce Is Rewriting Human Life
You probably didn't even notice it. Maybe it was just another night. You were tired, half-asleep, your phone in hand. You opened an app without thinking, browsed through a few products, read some suspiciously similar reviews, tapped "Buy Now," and went back to what you were doing. Somewhere in the distance, a warehouse light came on, you scanned a barcode, and a package arrived. A few days later, a small box arrived at your door, and the moment was complete.
By Sayed Zewayed2 months ago in Psyche
