So you’re running into an issue. Whether that be anxiety, depression, addiction, feeling lost, lack of emotion, or creative blocks, there is one common factor that causes these: unhealthy coping.
We all have trauma. Even if you were raised in a perfect environment you’d still have trauma. Life is built in a way where hardship shapes us, therefore even our own minds can traumatize us.
Now what are you doing with your trauma? Are you sweeping it under a rug or are you bottling it up? Are you lashing it out unto others? Are you running from it? The answer is likely yes to one or more of those questions. If the answer is an honest yes, this means you aren’t effectively coping with your trauma. When you do this, many problems come up, the most detrimental being lack of motivation and creativity. When you lack motivation and creativity, you stop living life and life starts living you. You are no longer dancing with life; instead, you are hanging onto life by a thread.
When you lack motivation and creativity you start to entertain negative thoughts. You start to distract yourself. A layer of fog forms over your mind and you are now living on autopilot. Only you can make the decision to clear your mind.
All unhealthy coping mechanisms are a form of distraction. When you distract yourself, something deeper is happening. You are rejecting your life. When you distract yourself, you’re attempting to hide from life. Now what is the issue with that? You are life. Your essence of being is life itself. Negative things happen and will keep happening on a daily basis, but it is our responsibility as humans to effectively cope.
HOW DO YOU STOP RUNNING AWAY?
Be.
You must be able to sit with your negative past, present, and anxiety about the future and accept it. You must be able to forgive even the most evil acts. If you do not forgive and accept, you will continue to run away from life, holding hate in your heart, only to pass this hate unto others. You must be strong enough to break the cycle. Luckily for you, the process can be peaceful, but unlucky for you, it can be the most emotionally taxing of tasks.
You must be able to cope effectively to life a good life. This is how you can start.
First you must develop higher levels of awareness. You must observe and learn. To do this you can meditate. Start meditating everyday and the awareness will spill over unto your daily life, and you will find yourself self-reflecting. Do I really want to do this? Is this a form of fear? Why do I feel this way? This is good. Keep self reflecting.
Second you MUST forgive everyone who ever hurt you, including yourself. If you do not do this, you will forever hold onto the hatred and pass it onto countless others. https://youtu.be/GlFjhO0lgLA Here is a fantastic video that will aid you in the forgiving process. WARNING: This is NOT easy. You may experience extreme emotions, be ready, but also expect extreme progress and peace.
Third you must learn about what you need to learn about. Whatever interests you, learn. Also read some self help and psychology to understand yourself deeper and begin creating a better life. There is a free booklist on this site, start there.
Fourth you must become aware of all of the ways that you distract yourself, become aware of all of your addictions, and become aware of all of the ways in which you are running from life. Don’t try to force them away, just be highly aware of them.
Fifth you must cultivate peace. Set time away from all stimulation, distraction and addiction every day. Dedicate higher amounts of time to be able to sit alone in silence. Be ready to face your emotion and trauma in these periods.
Surprisingly, you may notice in this process that you wade through your emotional problems pretty quickly. Once the fog fades, you realize this is what life is about. You feel centered, calm, and creative. You want to do bigger things with your life. Your goals become clearer and you are no longer trapped by your thoughts.
Just by freeing yourself from stimulation and distraction you are now able to cope effectively. You can now sit through your emotional problems, freeing yourself of hatred and fear and cultivating peace and creativity.
Develop this skill and all the suffering you go through in the process will be worth it. Join me on the journey! discord link below.
https://linktr.ee/masonpomeroy
thank you for reading.
MASON POMEROY 