What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?
I write poems and listen to sad songs(when I’m sad) to cope with negative feelings.
Honesty my repository of activities to do when feeling negative feelings is pretty small.
When I say negative feelings, I mean anger, hopelessness, sadness, apathy, fear, shame, etc.
Emotions
Here’s what I do when I feel these emotions –
Anger–
First I remember the words of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa who said ” যে সয় সে রয়, যে না সয় তার নাশ হয়।” It means in English,”He who tolerates, is able to withstand, He who does not tolerate, gets destroyed.”
Then I stay away from the person I am angry with.
Then I start listening to sad songs and writing.
Hopelessness–
When I feel hopeless, my mother is my savior. She talks to me all the time.
My mother (মা), maa, is my best friend.
Writing doesn’t help in this department. Nor does sad songs.
Sadness–
I listen to sad songs. I guess I write only poems when I feel sad.
Apathy–
Apathy means not feeling like doing anything or “indifference”.
In these case, I ask myself,”What am I interested in learning/doing now?”
Usually it’s some computer skills unrelated to my academic studies.
But it gets me out of my negative feelings.
Fear–
I call my mom because I have no friends.
No sad songs or writing helps though.
Shame–
Shame, self-hatred, etc. are horrible feelings which I feel when visiting some of my relatives’ places.
It’s truly horrible.
They make me feel like I better hide under a rock and disappear for the next 20 years.
They compare me to my cousins and uncles.
They say things that has utter insensitivity to my mental health issues. They don’t understand and they don’t want to understand mental illnesses. Period.
I don’t visit them much. That’s how I cope with shame.
Conclusion
So that’s a lot of combinations of- writing,music and my mom.
I hope I never outgrow these three gifts of my life. May I always love writing, music and my mom (মা).
Well this script is Bengali, our local Indian language in Kolkata, India.
Thanks for reading!
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