#Coping

Coping skills are the grand props one brandishes to dramatize stress as a manageable art form. While pretending to tame the beast called emotion, they are in fact little more than theatrical self-congratulation. The moment a crisis appears, we prefer to acquire a new skill rather than solve the underlying issue, finding joy in packing fragments of our psyche. These acquired techniques sometimes decorate procrastination of the real problem like a celebration, luring the user into an endless training ground.

A coping strategy is humanity's make-do manual for sidestepping unpleasant realities and inconvenient emotions. The more it is refined as a graceful self-preservation tactic, the more spectacular the betrayal that awaits later. Each time one weathers the storm of stress, it shape-shifts like a patchwork quilt. It discreetly sends unwanted issues to the seat of someone else's responsibility, much like rearranging place cards at a party. Armed with the ritual chant 'it'll be fine,' it scatters a highlight reel of regret and self-reproach in its wake.