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My first year of college was a time when I felt overburdened by the demands of my studies, adjusting to new social situations, and being away from home. I turned to avoidance because I didn't know how to handle the stress; I put off doing my homework, stayed up late binge-watching television, and distanced myself from friends. It was initially a relief to be away, but the stress just increased. I felt even more nervous and alienated, and my grades plummeted. Although that unhealthy coping strategy provided me with short-term solace, it ultimately made matters worse and made rehabilitation more challenging. I decided to organize my week every Sunday and plan my assignments, I made tiny daily goals and took evening walks to decompress to cope with stress. Although the stress was not eliminated by this healthy coping strategy, it did keep me emotionally stable and structured. In addition to noticing that I slept better and was more tolerant of myself and other people, I completed the week feeling productive rather than exhausted.

After giving both situations some thought, I discovered that while improper coping frequently results in temporary respite but long-term harm, healthy coping requires more work upfront but builds true resilience. I've gained self-awareness and proactive problem-solving skills from it that I'll use long after I graduate from college.

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Due to my anticipated retirement from my federal government position, I had to look at proactive coping mechanisms to help me navigate a new way of life. What I have found to be an effective for me, is to get involved with my wife's business. She has a psychological practice called Best Version of Yourself Psychology, LLC in Las Vegas, NV.

I have involved myself in her autism clinic and became a Registered Behavioral Technician to work with her autistic clients. I have gained a better understanding of how autism, not only affects the child, but how it affects the lives of the whole family.

My coping skills have been to involve myself in learning more about autism and getting involved in her business to seek my certification in Addiction and Substance Use.

Knowing I'm doing something productive and helping the clients and their families, provides me a feeling of usefulness and giving back to those less fortunate or worst off than myself.

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In High school, i was dealing with a lot of internal conflicts and negative emotions, like self hatred, depression and anxiety on top of my ADHD. So during that time I would cope with the use of alcohol and drugs. It provided me instant relief from my own head and made me forget these issues for short spirts of time. However, it became to short, leading me to doing it constantly, and daily. It only needed up making problems worse, making me more depressed, anxious, and hate myself even more and on top of that it started to burn connections I had with peers and family as well as harm my academic performance. In fact this negative coping skill greatly affected several year of my life and changed it forever. Thankfully, I am on the other side.

Throughout college when I feel similar emotions I have looked for more positive coping skills. I have great emotional supports in friends, family and my co workers who I talk to about my problems when I need to get them off my chest. I also work out constantly which helps with stress I face and helps make emotions feel less big. I have also allowed myself to feel negative emotions, which is one go the biggest coping skills I have used. Because I used to beat myself up for having negative emotions, but now, I acknowledge them, and let them subside through my other two coping skills I said above.

Through both experiences I have gained a lot of insight on what works and doest work for me. While drugs and alcohol gave me instant relief, it made my life significantly harder and caused more problems to compound the existing ones. Now I know there are healthy ways to deal with the same emotions. I learned that sometimes instant results are not what I need, instead, taking years to gather these coining skills and learning about myself and my emotions have lead me to be in a place where these emotions rarely phase me anymore. Both experiences thought me a lot about life, and I will carry them with me for the rest of my life because it has shaped me into the person I am today.

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I personally struggle with the weight of test anxiety. As of last week, I faced a calculus exam that required 30 hours of dedicated study time. To cope with this overwhelming pressure to perform well, I make myself take breaks of about 20 minutes to completely allow myself to dissociate from whatever exam I am studying for. In order to take my mind completely off of my academics, I'll usually indulge in an episode of a television show, or really sink in to the doom scroll on TikTok. Often times for me, I can get through 8 straight hours of studying, but I know this is not healthful. Making myself completely distance myself from my studies for moderate amounts of time allows me to get my feet back on the ground when I find myself becoming engulfed in the stress. On top of giving myself breaks throughout my study blocks, I try to refrain from studying excessively late at night. I know I never retain any information in doing so, so I stay away from it. I use late at night to spend my time doing something I'd rather be doing, which combats my nerves from keeping me awake all night.

In this circumstance, my coping mechanism is problem-focused. The best way to face an upcoming exam is to walk into it knowing I can do well, rather than be hyper-focused about failing. To achieve this mindset, implementing problem-solving strategies to ultimately build-up to this point is critical. It works to make the seemingly impossible exam something that can be achieved. Going about this structured plan helped me walk into my exam feeling more confident and capable. Unfortunately, walking out of the exam had me feeling a little unsteady; it was a lot more difficult than I was anticipating. Nevertheless, I feel that this strategy worked efficiently for me. In the time being built up before the exam, my stress wasn't making me feel sick to my stomach. I felt clear minded and that I was prepared for what came my way. Ultimately, being able to sleep well at night and stay calm made me feel like my work was worth it.

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During my junior year of high school I experienced an injury that resulted in needing surgery, and that surgery ended with many complications and my recovery took way longer than I was anticipating, which caused me to fall into a deep depressive episode. During this time, I turned to very unhealthy coping mechanisms, which I'm not going to fully explain because it can be triggering for some and it's hard for me to fully express and talk about that time, but I turned to hurting myself as a way to cope with the emotional pain and physical pain I was dealing with. Through this, I was focusing my attention on the pain I was causing myself as a way to numb out all my emotions and other physical pain I was dealing with. I had fallen into a deep spiral with very little control, and no one knew about anything I was doing until I opened up to a friend who I trusted who I knew had gone through similar experiences. He ended up telling the school counselor which ended in a phone call to my mom, which at the time I felt very mad and betrayed in a way, but reality was he was saving my life and getting me the help I needed. I started going to therapy as a healthy coping mechanism and found myself again along with new health coping skills such as journaling and spending time outside. Through this I learned that unhealthy coping mechanisms are usually just temporary fixes and nothing truly gets better unless you put in effort and find healthy skills.

My senior year of high school I ended up having to have the same surgery on my other arm and yet again thought my life was over and that I would become depressed again and never be happy, but this time that was not the case. I had just quit my sport because of needing surgery again, but I decided to try something new as a way to cope with that loss. I began powerlifting through the club at my school, and used physical activity as a healthy coping mechanism. Leading up to surgery I got as strong as I could and competed in my first competition a week before my surgery. Surgery took a toll on me and I felt down, but a week post-op and I was already back in the gym doing any possible thing I could. Any time I felt down I would go lift and get my body moving which always made me feel better. The gym has continued to be a way for me to let everything out and clear my head. Any time I'm having a bad day, I go move my body and it always resets me.

Through these experiences, I've learned that unhealthy coping is only a temporary fix and that healthy coping skills are truly always the answer. They allow you to refocus your mind and emotions in a positive way and regain yourself as a person.

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This past summer I was struggling with a lot of family issues regarding health and grief. Going through so many emotions that I hadn't figured out how to deal with I kept to myself. I felt like with everything I was going through was too heavy to talk about and didn't want to burden those I was closest to. I slowly stared to distance myself from my close friends and new ones I had made in my first year of college. My avoidance of people and talking about what I was going through further amplified how alone I felt. Which made it harder to find a support system to help me get out of the cycle of negative emotions I had build for myself.

I reconnected with an old friend who had transferred to the U of A. I took the opportunity to update her, I told her everything that I had been suppressing. She helped me get out of my apartment and be more social. I started therapy to help deal with all the things going on at home and to make a plan to get start thinking more positively. I made amends with old friends and took responsibility for leaving people in the dark. I made routines and plans for myself that would get me out of my apartment even if it was spending time by myself and be productive.

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Early on in my hospice volunteering, I was paired with a patient who had both cancer and dementia. My role is to be a companion, to spend time with patients and build a relationship. Over the course of a few months, I visited him weekly, and despite his memory challenges, we developed a quiet bond. It was cool because at this point, I could tell he would forget me or at least my name, but he would never forget how he felt about me. And I could tell just by his big smile when I'd finally stop by for the week.

One day, though, the tone of the visit felt different. As soon as I entered the room, something shifted. For the first time, it didn't feel like I was just visiting someone who was sick. There was a stillness in the room, a kind of weight in the air I hadn't felt before. His presence felt distant in a way that was hard to explain. In that moment, I realized I was watching my friend die. It was a quiet but profound realization, and it hit me harder than I expected.

After our visit, I didn't try to distract myself or push the feeling aside. My response was more emotion-focused. I left myself sit with what I was feeling. On the drive home, I stayed quiet, just trying to process everything. When I got back, I wrote about it. I had already been journaling after some of our visits as a way to reflect and hold onto the experience as it was unfolding. That day, writing helped me work through the heaviness I felt without letting it take over.

I think choosing to let myself feel it, rather than trying to immediately cope in a more problem-solving way made it possible for me to show up again the next week with presence instead of avoidance. Which is always my priority because to be frank, when I go visit, it's not about me. So even though it hurt in the moment, it felt good knowing that because I accepted the emotions as they came, I was able to put myself aside and focus on him.

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Recently I submitted a project I had been working on for over a month in a class that is very important to my major. Throughout the process of completing this assignment I created benchmarks for myself and didn't allow myself to fall behind or miss them. Through each of the benchmarks I would create a list of steps so I could better understand the task at hand and not overwhelm myself with the bigger picture. These lists also allowed me to have something to look at to calm myself down in the case that I all of a sudden was overwhelmed by the realization that I had a due date that was quickly approaching.

This method of creating to do lists, or benchmarks is considered a problem focused coping mechanism and I chose this method because strictly trying to sooth the stress of the assignment due date didn't actually change the date, as the problem was still there. I think this method was generally effective at getting tasks done on time, with a few mishaps but the issue comes in when I force myself to meet these benchmarks at the cost my physical wellbeing. Often when I had a part of the project "due" in class the next day I would not sleep the entire night in order to complete that part. Going even further, to make up for my lack of sleep I would go to sleep hungry because I didn't want to take the time to eat. These habits create negative effects on my physical health and I hope to negate this negative coping strategies in the future.

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Siena Davoli-Boen - Reflection on Coping Mechanisms (Prompt 2)

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Siena Davoli-Boen - Reflection on Coping Mechanisms (Prompt 2)

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One time I used an unhealthy coping skill to deal with stress and negative emotions was in my last few years of high school when I struggled with managing school, work, and my relationship with my parents. Because I was stressed about exams and never felt like I could study enough or had enough time in the day, I blamed myself for any bad grades and got in a lot of fights with my parents at home. Ultimately, I developed the unhealthy habit of self harm in order to cope with the issue, and hid it from my family and friends.

The outcome of this unhealthy coping skill was not beneficial. It was only an added layer of stress: as I became more reliant on the habit, I was worried my friends would find out and judge me, or that my parents would be hurt or upset at me. I also felt a lot of shame that made the original negative emotions I’d been struggling with even worse. Long term, this unhealthy coping mechanism slowly spiraled out of control and contributed to my negative emotions as I felt isolated and like there was no way to solve the issues I was dealing with.

In contrast, a time when I used a healthy coping skill was this past summer, when I began to feel stressed and anxious about starting college in the fall. I was worried about being unable to make new friends, and about whether I’d be prepared for classes. To cope with this, I first used problem-based coping skills by scheduling an appointment with a life management counselor in my college, and asked them for support in creating a plan to deal with the upcoming school year. Creating a list of actionable and realistic goals helped me proactively prepare. I also combined that strategy with an emotion-based coping skill, and used my nightly practice of journaling as a relaxation technique as well as a hobby and opportunity to be mindful about how I was feeling. In doing so, I was able to soothe the stress I was feeling and feel more confident as I got closer to starting school. I was also able to avoid returning to unhealthy habits.

The outcome of using healthier coping strategies helped me address the issue itself and feel more in control of how I responded, even if the actual life change I was anticipating (starting college) was unaltered. Whereas unhealthy coping skills only made my issues worse, by using the healthy habits of seeking support and journaling I was able to move forward.

This underscores the importance of using healthy coping mechanisms - especially because by replacing my unhealthy habits I now feel ready to face future challenges instead of worrying about how they could affect me. Therefore, using healthy coping skills not only helped in the short-term but also with my long-term healing journey. I believe this concept could be applied to nearly every life situation, especially if one remembers that although a situation cannot change, their response to it certainly can. Also, this shows how the potential to grow and learn from past experiences can offer its own reward, most importantly feeling prepared to face future challenges.

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I have recently been struggling to find a stable summer job that I can also continue during school. I spent six months obtaining a certification to work as a medical assistant and have been applying to jobs for five months with no luck. I became very stressed because I must support myself this summer and gain work experience in the medical field. I also felt as if I was running out of time to get everything done with school. To cope with this stress, I started setting small goals for myself each day. For example, I would tell myself I would apply for one job a day, which was more attainable and allowed me to finish my homework. This was a problem-focused coping strategy. I chose this strategy because accomplishing small tasks towards my goal each day made me feel much more productive. It also felt like a more realistic way to achieve my goal while still staying on top of school. This approach was very effective in managing my stress because breaking a large task into smaller units made reaching my goal of finding a job seem significantly less daunting and impossible. This strategy did not make my stress disappear, but it transformed my mindset and allowed me to put my best effort into job applications and school work while still taking time for myself.

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Growing up i've always been used to coping with any negative situation by either stress eating, shopping, or both. My parents never knew how to "deal" with me and didn't believe in therapy, so if I was ever depressed, stressed, etc. they would just give me money for food/retail therapy. This led to me always abusing whatever money I had by spending it as soon as I was affected by a negative (or sometimes even positive) situation and at the end of the day I never truly feel fulfilled. However, it got really bad these last couple of months which led to me wanting some real change, which is why this month (April) I have been on a no-spending diet where I only allow myself to buy actual necessities (like school supplies, gas, etc.) The time that would've been spent shopping/buying unnecessary food is now being put to going to the gym and being more productive with school work. I learned a lot from comparing both experiences. I'm still dealing with lots of stress but instead of causing more by spending money, i'm instead lessening the blow which makes me feel a lot better mentally.

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A group project that wasn't going well and several assignments that were due in the same week put me in a tense scenario at school recently. I was beginning to lag, and the pressure was intolerable.

I employed a problem-focused coping strategy in order to deal with the circumstances. To keep myself on track, I created a to-do list, divided each task into manageable chunks, and established mini-deadlines. I also contacted the other members of my group to arrange a meeting and talk about how we could split the work more effectively.

I chose this approach because I felt that the stress was coming from things I could control—my schedule, workload, and communication with others. Taking direct action helped reduce the anxiety I was feeling and gave me a sense of control.

This strategy was very effective. By the end of the week, I had completed all my assignments and our group project improved after better coordination. I learned that tackling the root of the problem can be a powerful way to manage stress, especially when the situation is something you can change.

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I recently faced a stressful situation and the coping mechanism that I used was more problem-focused. The situation I faced was choosing a different job career. For years of working in the same field, because I was attached to the people I worked with and the comfortability of the job, I was emotionally attached to the same kind of job. I would avoid moving forward and would have a constant anxiety that I was running out of time to find my career.

So I approached this situation in a problem-focused way. I made a to-do list by writing down my responsibilities and what I would have to do to move forward in life. I completely left a stressful situation as I was working at a retail job and only earning a bare minimum. This helped me ease my anxiety by planning what was in my best interest. Approaching my stressful situation like this has helped me manage my time better, has helped me learn something completely new, and has helped me process things based on logic rather than emotion. And working at a new job challenges me to continue to use this approach.

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Comparing Coping Mechanisms- Kylie Morgan

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Comparing Coping Mechanisms- Kylie Morgan

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Last week, I had 3 big exams in a row. It was extremely stressful because I worry a lot about my grades. I want to go to medical school so my GPA is a very important factor in being able to do that. I also have a job and had other homework, so it was very hard to find enough time to study for all of them and feel confident. I could not really use problem-based coping for this situation, because I could not change it or remove the exams from my life. One way I use emotion-based coping during stressful exam weeks is making time for myself to do things I enjoy that are not studying. For example, when I am done studying for the night, I like to watch an episode of my favorite show. When I'm studying, I take breaks every 45 minutes to talk to friends or family, have a snack, or step outside in the sun. Simply making time for those things helps me cope with stress in my life. After I took all of the exams, I spent a lot of time on my favorite hobby, painting. After being in college the past few years, I have learned that I can't avoid my problems and I've developed good coping mechanisms to make up for that, most of which are emotional coping. It is always effective for me and it always helps me feel better and relax.

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All throughout my life I've always been a very timid and shy person and I was constantly anxious over small things. It wasn't until about a year ago I learned I had anxiety, and when I learned this I felt even worse because I realized that it was never going to go away. And at certain times I found myself using it as an excuse to not do things that I didn't want to.

My mom also has anxiety and has for many many years and she taught me that when you have an anxiety or panic attack to have sour candy because your brain can't concentrate on both feelings at once. I'm not sure the scientific reasoning behind this, but I can say it really does work.

Another trick she taught me was 5 things you see, 5 things you hear, 5 things you smell, and 5 things you can touch. When you focus your mind off of whatever is making you feel overwhelmed you are able to calm down quicker.

I've used both of these methods pretty often since then and I think a combination of the two and just knowing that I'm not alone in how I feel and millions of other people, including my mom, experience the same or similar feeling helps me realize i'm not alone.

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A recent stressful situation I experienced was moving out on my own for the first time. While it was a big step toward independence, it also brought a lot of anxiety and feelings of loneliness. To cope, I used emotion-focused strategies. One of the most helpful things I did was plan weekly dinners with my family. Knowing I would see them regularly helped me feel more connected and supported, which reduced my sense of isolation. Another way I managed my anxiety was by coloring. When I felt overwhelmed, sitting down with a coloring book allowed me to focus on something simple and calming. It helped me stay present and eased the tension in my body. These methods didn’t directly solve the stress of adjusting to a new living situation, but they made the emotional burden easier to handle. Overall, they were effective in helping me stay grounded and take care of my mental health.

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Due to things, I lived through when I was in the military, i unfortunately developed a bipolar, and anxiety disorder. This has been a constant struggle since 2016 which I have been struggling with.

From developing PTSD, and living with nightmares, from my strange personality and sudden changes in mood, I have tried different ways to cope with it. From drinking alcohol, to exercising my mind and body until I am completely exhausted and go straight to bed. Obviously, this is a problem that has been filled by emotions, and the only problem is within me. The biggest thing is battling against yourself, to the point you cannot even understand yourself sometimes.

I have found my coping mechanism is through going to the gym and getting the anger out of my system to where I can calm myself and let the anger out of my body. I would say I still struggle day by day, but it helps me get through the day and not think so much about my "feelings".

I have tried speaking with a therapist, and even psychiatrist, but nothing works more than exhausting my body and mind. I personally do not like the secondary effects of taking medication, hence to why I resort to the most natural way, and now I just accepted the fact my life will be like this for the rest of my life.

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When I think about the times I have used unhealthy coping skills, my memory immediately takes me back to when my career as a police officer was coming to an end. During my tenure as a police officer, I lost 2 partners to unnecessary violence. Due to the emotional pain, I turned unfortunately turned to prescription pills and alcohol. Initially, this method solved my problems because it was taking away the emotional pain I was experiencing. However, I became addicted to the pills, which only caused more issues in my life. Thankfully, I was able to get into recovery from my addiction to pills through support and the use of resources and I have been in sobriety from them for many years.

Now when I experience emotional pain, I turn to writing poetry and going to the gym. These methods may not take the pain away as quickly, but they allow me to process my emotions and get them out, instead of holding them in. The gym and writing have been a lifeline for me and have provided me with a healthy coping skill that I can use, without any negative consequences.

What I learned from the 2 experiences is that unhealthy coping skills will only lead to increased consequences, many of them that they may be difficult to combat. Healthy coping skills provide an outlet void of those consequences. I can now say that I turn to writing and going to the gym whenever I experience difficult times in my life.

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This summer I underwent a very intense brain surgery, I could no longer go out with my friends, exercise, swim, or do many of the things I enjoyed. I turned to oversleeping to try to avoid my problems. I would spend the whole day asleep, just to sleep again at night. I was hoping that I could just make the days pass pass faster until the pain went away. The issue was I can't outsleep six months of my life. This led to me being chronically irritated and angry. It also made me more tired and created an endless cycle and did not treat my symptoms of depression but rather made them worse.

Later, in recovery from the surgery when I could finally exercise again, I was not as in shape as before. I was not as strong or fast and this was very problematic to me as exercise was my main hobby. Instead of turning to unhealthy coping for my sadness, I committed to a goal to become better than I was before my surgery. I now lift significantly more than before and I am also training for a half marathon, a goal I never expected I could have!

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There was a time when I was overwhelmed with school and personal stress, and I coped by shutting people out and spending too much time online, mostly scrolling through social media. At first, it gave me a break from everything going on, but it ended up making me feel more disconnected and anxious. The stress didn’t go away it just built up and made things worse in the long run.

Later, I went through a similar period of stress but handled it differently. Instead of avoiding everything, I talked to a close friend about how I was feeling and made a small plan to organize my assignments. It didn’t fix everything overnight, but just talking things through and taking one step at a time helped me feel more in control.

Looking back, I can see how the first coping method was more avoidant and emotion focused in a way that wasn’t healthy, while the second one mixed both emotion and problem focused strategies in a much more helpful way.

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I quit basketball because it seemed like the simplest way to deal with the stress and negative emotions I was experiencing at the time. I was unable to cope with the pressure, so I decided to distance myself from the one item that had played a significant role in my life rather than face those emotions. I first felt a little better after I stopped since I was free of the pressure and expectations. However, in retrospect, I saw that it ultimately left me feeling disoriented and alienated. I missed the team's structure and companionship. I felt somewhat guilty about how I handled it, and it didn't resolve the fundamental problems.

After a while, I began to manage my stress in more healthy ways, such as discussing it with friends or spending time doing something I enjoyed, like exercising or even simply hanging out with my dog. I thought I was digesting things more effectively during those times rather than merely avoiding them. I was able to see things more clearly and manage my feelings in a more healthy way. The results were completely different; instead of allowing the stress to define me, I felt more confident and in charge. It made it clearer to me that facing my issues head-on, growing from them, and learning from them was the better course of action.

Both instances taught me that, although leaving something behind may feel nice in the short term, it doesn't bring about lasting peace of mind. Addressing stress head-on and using better coping strategies are crucial. Making those better decisions helped me realize that I'm stronger than I believe and that I can overcome adversity without losing who I am.

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During this semester, I had gotten really overwhelmed with my school assignments. The deadlines were approching, and I kept putting things off because I didn’t even know where to start. It eventually got to the point where I felt completely stuck and lost. I had ended up using the problem-based coping approach, in which I had made a list of everything I needed to do in a good order, by breaking it into smaller steps and setting a time to tackle each task. Having a plan made the stress way more manageable. I chose that route because I knew avoiding it would just make it worse because I wouldn't get a good grade and it would be harder for me to get it up. As I started checking things off I felt more in accomplished, productive and I wasn't lost anymore.

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For all my life I had been a dancer. I had performed in many events around my city. This was until my last 2 years in high school. I chose to do the IB program, which ended up taking all my time, and I didn't have time to practice dance. In university I wanted to start dancing again but found myself not being able to perfect routines like I used to. I also wasn't able to finish an hour of training because I got too tired. I tried competing but didn't get on the podium. Suddenly, I stopped telling people I am a dancer , I no longer danced at parties, and I hated being around other dancers. Everyone seemed better than me. One day I was scrolling through my mothers instagram and stumbled across my last dance meet before I stopped. I cried. I cried until I had a headache. I asked myself, " how long are you going to stop yourself from doing something you love ?" I then told myself. "If there is one person in the world who can do it , it's you " (emotion-focused coping). From the day after I trained every day, I trained harder than I did all my life. I made sure to include time for dance in my schedule for each day. (Problem-focused coping). Though it was incredibly difficult , all the hard work paid off. I finally feel like the dancer I was.

Reflecting on the journey, I realized I used both coping types. I needed to get rid of the mind block due to my insecurities about being a terrible dancer. Emotion-focused coping helped me to trust myself and give myself time to improve. It wasn't enough; I also need to incorporate problem-focused coping so I can actually change the situation. I have always seen hard work pay off in the people around me. Through this coping method I was able to achieve just that.

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Recently I had a few exams, assignments, readings, and discussion due in the same week. Additionally, I still had other responsibilities outside of school to manage and it was beginning to look like it would be a stressful week. Knowing everything I had to do that week, I created a list of activities to be done each day. This list allowed me to manage my time effectively and stay on top of everything while still having time to relax. The coping mechanism that I used would be considered problem-focused as it involved tackling the problem head-on to eliminate the source of stress. I went with a problem-focused approach because I knew what was causing the stress and there was something that I could do to eliminate it. During this week I still made time for emotion-focused activities as well such as taking care of myself and engaging in hobbies. This approach was really effective for me.

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Last week, my dad called me for the first time in over 3 months. He is an alcoholic and I have always struggled to connect with him. I try my best to support and let him know I love him, but it can be tough seeing how he affects me and my entire family. My heart sank a little bit when I saw that he was calling that day, but I answered right away. He sounded really good that day, he sounded sober, happy, interested in my life, my new relationship, and my summer plans. The call got cut off because his phone died, but my mom told me he would call me back once it turned back on. I never got a call or text back that day even though I continued reaching out. I found out a few days later from my mom that he was plastered drunk when he called me and then fell asleep outside that day. This broke me on the inside when I heard this because he doesn't remember anything when he is drunk, and I had just poured my heart out to him about my life. My coping mechanism was emotion-focused. I coped by talking to my boyfriend and my mom, who are both great listeners and advice-givers. This was a healthy way of coping for me because I was able to get my thoughts and feelings out to people close to me that I trusted. I chose this approach because in the past I would just keep it to myself and it would fester and then come out in negative ways later. I think talking to the people closest to me helped me to move throughout my week with more ease even though there was still this conflict happening.

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 Evaluating Unhealthy vs. Healthy Coping Skills:

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 Evaluating Unhealthy vs. Healthy Coping Skills:

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When I have an exam, it feels like everything else pops up at the same time, making an already stressful situation even worse. Just when I need to focus on studying, unexpected errands, personal issues, and other projects that are due all seem to hit at once. This actually happened to me a couple of weeks ago when I had a physics test coming up, and it felt like there were a million other things demanding my attention while I was trying to prepare. To make it harder, physics isn’t exactly my strongest subject, so my stress was at an all-time high. The pressure of not being able to fully concentrate on studying only made me feel more overwhelmed, and the stress kept building as the exam day got closer. I found myself stuck in unhealthy emotions like anxiety, frustration, and even tears. But after a while, I realized that freaking out wasn’t going to solve anything. I decided to step away, put my headphones in, and go for a walk to clear my head. During that walk, I really looked around and reminded myself that everything would eventually get done, but I couldn’t force it all at once. I just needed to start somewhere and give myself space to work through it step by step. I also reminded myself that I’m not the only college student who feels this way, and that thought gave me some comfort and motivation to push through.

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Comparing Coping Mechanisms

Recently, I experienced a particularly stressful situation involving an overwhelming academic workload and looming deadlines for multiple assignments. I felt stuck between trying to stay on top of everything and dealing with the emotional exhaustion that came with it. Rather than diving straight into solving the problem, I initially used an emotion-focused coping strategy. I found myself needing to process how overwhelmed I felt before I could move forward. So I took a step back, allowed myself time to cry, journal, and talk it out with a close friend. These actions helped me release some of the emotional pressure and made me feel less alone in my stress.

After that emotional release, I shifted into a problem-focused coping strategy by creating a detailed plan and breaking each task into manageable parts. I wrote everything down, prioritized by due date and complexity, and set small goals for each day. This two-step process was effective for me because trying to “fix” everything right away would’ve only increased my anxiety. Acknowledging my emotions helped me regain control and shift into action when I was ready.

This experience taught me that both emotion-focused and problem-focused coping mechanisms can be useful—but timing and self-awareness are key. Sometimes, especially when emotions are intense, we need to feel before we can fix. Emotion-focused coping helped me regulate my stress in the short term, while problem-focused strategies allowed me to take productive steps toward resolving the issue. Being able to identify and intentionally choose the right approach made a significant difference in how I managed the situation overall.

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Prompt 1: Coping Mechanism for Giving Presentations

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Prompt 1: Coping Mechanism for Giving Presentations

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I am taking a Jewish Philosophy class this semester, and it has caused me some stress with random calls to present. I have no previous experience with philosophy classes, let alone Jewish philosophy. It is very text-heavy, and with my 5 other classes, it gets complicated understanding what's even going on at times. I am also coming to the end of my undergrad. I have been asked to give presentations before, but my confidence in public speaking has slowly improved. The form of coping that has helped me throughout this semester is emotion-focused coping. I decided to go with the emotion-focused coping in these instances because the presentations were called out randomly-- not giving me enough time to prepare beforehand.

Emotion-focused coping: I told myself continuously that I could do this, while reviewing my notes. I practice breathing exercises to relax myself whenever I would start to panic in discussion time. While reminding myself that even if I am nervous, no one else is going to tell me anything.

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A stressful problem I faced recently was juggling with multiple deadlines for school. I got a little behind in assignments and I felt very overwhelmed with trying to get everything done on time but also doing it well. The coping mechanism I used was problem-focused. I made a detailed to-do list that allowed me to see each thing I need to get done, for what class, and when it was due. I chose this approach because it was pretty effective, the list allowed me to visually see all the things I need to get done and I felt more organized which reduced my anxiety and gave me more clarity.

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After graduating high school I faced a lot of difficult situations and a lot of stress and felt like I had no one to turn to. To help ease the stress and my mental health I used a lot of unhealthy coping mechanisms such as substance use and self harm. The avoidance of the situation led to more long term problems and a worse situation. I developed unhealthy behaviors and didn't know how to have healthy relationships. Over the past few years I have learned that while it may be harder to develop healthy coping skills they benifit in the long run. Now when I am stressed or overwhelmed I am learning to ask for help and to make lists or plans of how to fix situations instead of avoiding them. Not only has my mental health improved but also my relationships in life.

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When I use unhealthy coping skills, it usually consists of me trying to find a distraction that will get my mind off of the problem. I always end up feeling worse than before, and my problem usually also worsens. Instead of working through my stress or bad feelings I’m only letting it build up in exchange for temporary relief. This also creates bad habits and overall never leads to anything positive in the long term. When I use healthy coping skills, it consists of me facing my problems and getting through uncomfortable moments in order to have a positive outcome. A specific example I could think of is when I was failing a class. Instead of reaching out to my professor or making any changes in what I was doing, I spent most of my time going out with friends and never made time to be alone or go to class. This kept me feeling good during those moments and never gave me a chance to think about how far behind I was getting. By the end of the semester and throughout the summer afterwards I just felt full of guilt and disappointment knowing that I was sacrificing my academics for no reason since I never ended up with a long term good feeling. In a similar situation, I had gotten behind on a few assignments in a class and was able to use my past semesters experience as an example of what not to do. While it would be the easy way out, I knew it wasn’t a healthy coping mechanism and wouldn’t put me in a better place mentally or academically. Within a week I had reached out to my professor, got my missing work done, and was caught up to speed. Since I was a few weeks behind, these assignments took up a lot of my time and were not easy to get done all at once, but I had to push through the draining points to be back in a better place again. This taught me that even when I get behind, it is still more worth it to put in the extra effort rather than give up completely, on one hand I’d feel bad temporarily and eventually feel better, and on the other hand I’d feel good temporarily and eventually feel worse.

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During my senior year of high school, a very toxic friendship of mine feel apart. I fell very depressed for months and it eventually got to the point where I used self harm as a coping mechanism. For me at the time, I saw physical pain as a way to temporarily escape from the mental pain. After my parents found out that I was self harming, I made a promise to myself that I would never do it again because of their reactions to it. Now that I am two years clean from it, I have realized that the promise I made wasn't just for my parents but also to myself because as much as it got rid of the mental pain for a little, I also hated seeing myself hurt like that and felt the need to self harm. I don't regret doing it because I see it as a sign of how far I have come over the past couple of years. I have taken the lessons I learned from that bad coping mechanism and turning those lessons into healthy coping mechanisms. Whenever I am feeling overwhelmed, anxious, depressed, or any other negative emotion I like to think of the positives that can come out the emotion I am feeling and the things I will learn. For example at the beginning of the semester I did not do good on the first chemistry exam I took and that took a toll on me. For a couple of weeks I was depressed and mad at myself but after thinking about what I was feeling and why, I took this chem test as a learning opportunity and studied more for the next chem test and I got a score I was really happy with. You can't go back and re-due the past, but you can take the outcomes and the emotions you felt from those and turn it into learning experiences. Realizing this has helped me a lot mentally especially when it comes to school but also with my life outside of school.

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Unhealthy vs. Heathy Coping Skills - Justin Hinson

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Unhealthy vs. Heathy Coping Skills - Justin Hinson

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Learning healthy coping skills and accepting help changed and drastically improved my life a few years ago. After losing my mom when I was 25 I found out my wife was pregnant and never really grieved. I threw myself into being a husband and father, which in hindsight ended up being a way that I justified the unhealthy coping strategy of avoidance. Another unhealthy coping strategy was that I drank more for several years, which was a way to deal with stress, and I also discovered when I started doing some work on myself that I was using it to cover unresolved grief. When I reached my breaking point I started with the problem-focused coping skill of reaching out for help from a professional, and also by taking her advice and engaging in some problem-solving activities. I also learned about some mindfulness techniques like meditation and learned the importance of self care, which were emotion focused coping strategies that helped me and that I continue to use to this day, often proactively. The difference in my life since I realized it was ok to get help and was willing to accept advice and try new things is night and day, and that journey is why I am taking classes so I can be in a position to pay it forward and pass on what was given to me.

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Alcohol has been around me at a young age. Even more say in my career. As a chef, booze, partying and work go hand in hand. It is part of the industry, and some people are better than others at managing it. I unfortunately am not one of those cases. Part of the healing from addiction is learning why one is not enough. Why does one lead to a night of chaos. So many question and I am still working on it day by day. I can say one of the things that did help me was learning coping skills. Coping skills have been a life saver for me.

Coping skills only work if I choose one's that already interest me. I have a lot of things that ai have enjoyed growing up that I was always involved with. These things I do now have always been a part of my life, but they just took a back seat to other things more important in my addiction. So, writing down a list of things that interest me was my first step. How can I fit these things into my life and what was the benefits. All these things I take into consideration.

For me the gym has been my #1 coping skill. following that list of active things is pickleball, soccer, and anything active that I can laugh and clear my head. For my spiritual side that was meditation and music, following by writing, gardening, and anything that involves art. Sitting with myself, clearing my head and getting all these thoughts out have always helped. Something that helps my soul is going to meetings and being of service to other recovering addicts who are there for help.

For me, coping skills is more than just one thing. Addiction for me has hurt my mind, body and soul. So, in order to heal I need to focus on coping skills that also heal my mind body and soul. This is an everyday thing and will never stop. If I take a day off from these things, then my addiction is around the corner waiting for me to slip. I will not go backwards anymore so I take these coping skills very serious.

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I've been in therapy for about three years and it has been tremendously helpful for dealing with stressful events in my life. My therapist has become an essential part of my support network and he has helped me navigate some very stressful life events.

As an example, this is my second semester back in school after having to step away for two years. My first semester back was pretty stressful as I needed to navigate a full course load on top of work and everything else. It was so important for me to have a well established therapist that could help me navigate this tricky period. Sometimes its hard for me to see the bigger picture and I tend to get caught up on the small details. When I'm in these mindsets its always helpful for me to talk it through with someone which I was able to do with my therapist.

This was both a problem-based and emotion-based coping mechanism. He helped me arrive at the conclusion that it was important to focus on one thing at a time which required me to step away from work while I reintegrated into academic life. This was hard because I really enjoyed my job and the people I worked with had become like family so my therapist also helped me navigate the emotional side of this loss as I started down a different path.

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Colby Donner - Comparing Coping Mechanisms

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Colby Donner - Comparing Coping Mechanisms

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One of the most stressful things that I have had to deal with as of recently is my pretty intense exam week. In the field of Optical Science and Engineering, there is an accelerated masters program that allows for students to obtain a masters degree in 1 year after graduation. To qualify for this program, you need a 3.5 GPA in major which is not the easiest thing to do. This semester marks the deadline for this application and I am sitting right at a 3.4 GPA in my major so I have to do very well in order to be considered for this program. I am a terrible test taker and with exams this week, I struggle terribly with pre-test anxiety. I typically study for days straight and lack the appetite to eat anything. This does nothing for me regarding easing the stress, but it does make me feel like I am getting an extra hour of studying in per day. I have started to ease off of this, forcing myself to take a break every hour or two for at least 15-30 minutes to decompress and allow myself to rest. I typically use an alarm on my phone to do this and it has really helped as I go grab a snack, watch a video or two and then go right back to studying. This has increased my studying habits and I have seen improvements in my overall performance just through this. I would not say that it has eased my stress by any means, but it has shown improvements in my overall test taking abilities as the information I am learning sticks better when you have proper nutrients. This in itself is making me feel much better about my exams and ability to perform to my expectations on them.

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Prompt 2: Evaluating Unhealthy vs. Healthy Coping Skills-Kiersten Morris

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Prompt 2: Evaluating Unhealthy vs. Healthy Coping Skills-Kiersten Morris

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I have a unhealthy coping skill that I use anytime I get stressed. Whenever I feel stressed or overwhelmed I tend to pick at my nails. What this usually means is that I pick at my skin and cuticles an it usually ends up bleeding and scabbing over and making my skin extremely raw and dry and angry. I fully understand and recognize my unhealthy coping mechanisms. While doing the coping skill, it makes me feel better in the moment to get some of my nervous energy out by the end of it, having my nails that messed up doesn't truly help my mental health. A healthier coping skill that I have started doing is making a list of all of my assignments and things I need to get done each week with official due dates. That way when I am stressed I can see it all laid out in front of me and check off each box one by one as I work through it. This helps me feel more organized and accomplished as I move through each assignment.

I think overall I have learned what works for me and helps me. While picking at my nails it helps me it is not healthy and I have gained that self-awareness to try to work at improving that.

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In my day-to-day life, stress tends to loom over my head. I am a serial procrastinator so I tend to make my life harder for myself by pushing deadlines to the max and leaving work for myself at always the later date. There are times were I seem to be a superstar and can stay on top of my work without trouble, and other weeks where that simply isn't the case.

Recently, I have been having a series of stressful exams which hit back to back from one another, and with work, like others have experienced, it is a bit hard to motivate myself to study and get all my homework done as well.

Coping with this has been interesting to say the least, the gym helps the most as it serves as a time to relax and decompress from all the things related to school, and transition into a more work-motivated mood. Aside from this, when things seem to be extremely daunting, mapping out and doing my assignments in a more organized way has also helped to cope with the stress of it all.

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Comparing Coping Mechanisms - Kaia Constantine

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Comparing Coping Mechanisms - Kaia Constantine

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A recent stressful situation I experienced was when I was fostering a dog I hoped to adopt. During an unexpected incident, my dog became scared and ended up in a fight with another dog. I got caught in the middle trying to break it up, and my dog accidentally locked her jaw on my leg, leaving two deep wounds that required stitches. I’ve been unable to walk properly since, which has been frustrating and emotional. It’s hard watching my friends do everyday things like walking when I’m stuck healing. On top of that, I had to return the dog, and there’s a possibility she might be euthanized, which has been devastating to think about.

The coping mechanism I’ve mostly used in response to this situation has been emotion-focused. I’ve found myself sleeping more than usual, not necessarily because I’m tired, but to avoid the emotional weight of everything and the physical pain in my leg. In the moment, this felt like the only way to escape how overwhelmed I was. I’ve also tried to remind myself that this is temporary and that my body will heal in time, which helps me stay grounded when the sadness creeps in.

While this approach helped me get through the initial shock and pain, I’ve realized it hasn’t done much to actively improve the situation or my emotional state. I’m still hurting, physically and emotionally, and sleeping it away only brings short-term relief. This reflection has helped me recognize that I might benefit from more problem-focused coping, like talking to someone about my feelings or finding ways to feel more in control of my recovery.

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Last month, I was extremely stressed about finding a summer position. I finally, got accepted into a program, however that was contingent on finding a lab to work under. After receiving, no responses from any of the professors I was panicked. However, I continued to reach out to more professors in hope of a response. In the meantime, I managed to schedule hang outs with friends to help relieve stress, since I'm a big people person. For my situation, I would say I used problem-focused coping mechanism.

While I did not have total control of my stressful situation, I did take control of what I could. My main stressor, was that I would have no summer job related to my major. This lead to a rabbit hole of thinking that without a summer lab job my career was over. However, thinking about the problem, I chose to continue trying to find a lab to cope. In addition, I reassessed my thinking. Upon reflection, I realized I can control how I view things and that not getting a summer lab position was not the end of the world. This reduced my stress greatly.

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One of the most stressful things I’ve ever been through was when my brother got shot. The doctors said he might not make it, and I honestly felt like my whole world flipped upside down. I was angry, scared, and completely heartbroken. I had a lot of revengeful thoughts and I just wanted someone to blame, someone to hurt the way we were hurting. I wasn’t in the right headspace at all.

During that time, I had to really lean on prayer. That was the only thing that helped calm me down. I prayed constantly, not just for my brother to survive, but for my own peace of mind too. I knew I couldn’t let anger take over, even though that’s what I was feeling. I was using an emotion focused coping mechanism because I couldn’t fix the situation, I could only try to manage how I was reacting to it.

Thank God he pulled through. That moment changed me. It showed me how powerful prayer and emotional support really are. Sometimes the only thing you can do is hang on and try not to let the pain turn you into someone you’re not.

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When I was younger, I did not know how to deal with stress. I had major issues with stressful situations, and I developed some pretty unhealthy habits because of that. When I was stressed as a kid, I would start to put things into my mouth and chew on them. This could be a piece of gum or a piece of plastic. This was unhealthy for me, as nowadays when I am just thinking about something, I feel the urge to chew on something. When I had long hair, I would chew on it, for example.

A healthy habit that I also developed, however, involving stress was making a plan for dealing with said stress. For school or my work, I would work out what I need to do in my head before, as to be efficient and save time as need be. This has been extremely beneficial in my everyday life, as know I make plans in my head for school work to make sure I have enough time to do it when it needs to be done.

I learned from both experiences that coping with something has many layers and ways to approach it. It is not a simple solution that you can do right away, but rather a long process that involves a coping strategy that you personally find effective.

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A stressful situation I've faced recently is the two new classes added to my schedule. At the beginning of the semester, I was told in late January that one of the classes I chose (which was a regular academic session) was no longer a course taught at the UofA. Because of this, I had to choose a 7-week session for the 2nd half of the semester along with the previously chosen 7-week session course. Because these two courses were for the second half of the semester, I completely forgot about them until recently. Now, I have been very stressed out and am dealing with anxiety, worrying about meeting the deadlines and getting 5 modules down within 5-7 days.

I have used many different coping mechanisms but the two I use every day include self-care and exercising. Both of which are emotion-focused coping skills.

When I use the coping mechanism of self-care, it normally includes showering, lotioning, make-up, and getting my nails done once a month. The reason I chose this coping mechanism is because it is effective in managing my stress by taking care of myself makes me feel good and ready for the day.

When I use the coping mechanism of exercising, I normally go with my little brother to Planet Fitness. The reason I chose this coping mechanism is because it is effective in managing my stress by helping me clear my mind while I move my body.

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If there is an opposite to a stress-eater, that is what I am. Any stressful situation, whether it is exam season, competitions, busy strenuous weeks or personal conflicts, I have observed that the accompanying anxiety with these circumstances kills my appetite. This laid out the perfect scene for an unhealthy coping mechanism of skipping meals in times of stress. I first started noticing that when a stocked fridge had been untouched at the end of 2 weeks.

When I thought to myself why this may have been happening, I noticed that it was a pattern of being exhausted with my thoughts yet refusing to fuel myself to better combat these feelings. Additionally, a lack of meals did not equate to less activity throughout the day, I was just as active at college, work and extra-curriculars. The tipping point came when my health, academic and professional efficiency, sleep and mood started declining, noticeably so.

This prompted me to take a step back and fix certain things in my lifestyle. The biggest step I took is making a rule for myself to not study or work when I was having a meal. This stopped the cycle of getting distracted during a meal to the point finishing it. Instead, I listened to music or talked to family or friends, adding to my social connectivity. This further aided in reducing the stress. I also started making small portions of balanced meal ideas which would interest me while also not being overwhelming, coupled with fun workouts to get my hunger going. As an avid coffee enthusiast, I also made sure that I avoided drinking coffee before having breakfast. This added an extra reason for me to be consistent with my first meal of the day.

This has brought a noticeably positive change in my body and mindset.

While I have come up with some small healthier coping strategies, I acknowledge that it is going to require active efforts to be consistent in them. From both experiences, I have recognized how easy it can be to slip into those harmful actions. I like to think about it as a computer system crashing if you don't update it and clear the storage consistently enough. Our bodies need breaks and methods to unwind and unburden ourselves from our struggles.

I realized that consistency in habits comes with an entree of accountability and a side of enjoyment.

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There was a time last semester when I felt completely overwhelmed with school, work, and family responsibilities. Instead of reaching out or organizing my schedule, I started avoiding everything missing deadlines, sleeping too much, and scrolling on my phone to distract myself. This was definitely an unhealthy coping skill. It didn’t fix anything; in fact, it made things worse. My anxiety grew because I was falling behind, and I felt even more stuck. It became a cycle that was hard to break.

Later, during a similar stressful period, I tried something different. I made a list of everything I needed to do, broke big tasks into smaller ones, and talked to a close friend about how I was feeling. I also made time to take walks and listen to music to help clear my head. This time, things didn’t feel as impossible. I still had stress, but I was managing it instead of avoiding it.

What I learned is that unhealthy coping might feel like relief in the moment, but it doesn’t solve the problem it just delays it. Healthy coping takes more effort at first, but it leads to better outcomes and helps build confidence in the long run. Now, when I feel overwhelmed, I try to pause, make a plan, and take care of my mental health instead of ignoring it.

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I’ve struggled with smoking for 14 years, and I’m only 28. For almost half my life, I’ve dealt with the urge to smoke. Now, I hardly smoke at all. Looking back, I see I used smoking as a way to handle tough situations, emotions, and boredom. I quit and relapsed many times, like most smokers do. My latest relapse was the most eye-opening. I had gone nearly two years without smoking—the longest I ever had.

Last year, I was juggling three, sometimes four jobs, going to school, dealing with mental health issues, and supporting myself financially. During finals week, I hit a breaking point. I had no coping tools left. Nature walks, journaling, venting, social drinking, and healthy eating weren’t enough to ease my stress. I thought the only thing that might calm me was buying a pack of cigarettes.

Just like before, I felt relaxed for about five minutes. But after smoking a few more that week, I felt guilt, shame, worry, stomach aches, and a sore throat. I actually felt worse than before. I was still overwhelmed, but now I also felt guilt, shame, worry, physical discomfort, and fear—especially fear of cancer.

So here I am again, trying hard not to smoke for fun or to cope. I haven’t found a perfect replacement for the habit yet, but carrying a small sketchbook in my purse helps a lot. When I feel uncomfortable, socially anxious, or don’t know what to do with my hands, I draw. When I’m deeply overwhelmed, I cry, eat something I enjoy, and just let myself feel it. This helps me process my emotions instead of distracting myself, and it clears my mind so I can solve problems when I’m ready.

I’ve learned that short-term relief is cheap compared to long-term relief. Now, I try to choose my coping methods more carefully.

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I’ve struggled with smoking for 14 years, and I’m only 28. For almost half my life, I’ve dealt with the urge to smoke. Now, I hardly smoke at all. Looking back, I see I used smoking as a way to handle tough situations, emotions, and boredom. I quit and relapsed many times, like most smokers do. My latest relapse was the most eye-opening. I had gone nearly two years without smoking—the longest I ever had.

Last year, I was juggling three, sometimes four jobs, going to school, dealing with mental health issues, and supporting myself financially. During finals week, I hit a breaking point. I had no coping tools left. Nature walks, journaling, venting, social drinking, and healthy eating weren’t enough to ease my stress. I thought the only thing that might calm me was buying a pack of cigarettes.

Just like before, I felt relaxed for about five minutes. But after smoking a few more that week, I felt guilt, shame, worry, stomach aches, and a sore throat. I actually felt worse than before. I was still overwhelmed, but now I also felt guilt, shame, worry, physical discomfort, and fear—especially fear of cancer.

So here I am again, trying hard not to smoke for fun or to cope. I haven’t found a perfect replacement for the habit yet, but carrying a small sketchbook in my purse helps a lot. When I feel uncomfortable, socially anxious, or don’t know what to do with my hands, I draw. When I’m deeply overwhelmed, I cry, eat something I enjoy, and just let myself feel it. This helps me process my emotions instead of distracting myself, and it clears my mind so I can solve problems when I’m ready.

I’ve learned that short-term relief is cheap compared to long-term relief. Now, I try to choose my coping methods more carefully.

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One stressful situation I recently encountered was managing three demanding roles at work: high-needs case manager, crisis counselor, and school-based counselor. This experience was extremely difficult due to the intense demands of my high-needs clients and the high expectations from the schools. To cope, I used self-reflection as a problem-focused coping strategy. I chose this method because I needed to remind myself of my strengths and recognize that the struggle was temporary. Self-reflection helped me slow down, refocus, and identify the most important issues to address, allowing me to tackle challenges more effectively instead of becoming overwhelmed by everything at once.

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Avoiding my problems was my go-to coping strategy for all of high school. From assignments that caused me stress and presentations that made me anxious to personal relationships I would find a way to remove myself from the equation. I did this because at the time I did not know any better and figured that the only person I was hurting was myself.

When I got to college, I had not learned any new coping strategies which led to a very eye-opening chain of events. In my first semester I failed all of my classes and destroyed the romantic relationship I was in. This happened as I would put off the small things until I had a serious problem then just avoid the issue. In the long term I lost many great friends and many opportunities at the University of Arizona.

This year I have been working on going for a run when I get anxious and getting to the gym when I am stressed. So far, I have been able to communicate better with my friends and set boundaries. Not only do I have closer friends, but I am a lot less stressed and anxious.

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Mid way through my first semester in college was really rough both physically and mentally. Initially I was an engineering major and was getting to a point where I had to really study hard to earn a good grade. However, I ended up pinching my sciatic nerve. For those unfamiliar with sciatica, it is a nerve that goes from the lower back down to the foot. I still remember the pain I felt even in moments where my leg would go to sleep. Not only was I unable to walk to class (which I push myself to and would be late) but my ability to concentrate was greatly affected by the pain I was undergoing by ANY movement I made. I took pain killers and muscle relaxers which had no effect. The motivation and desire I had to learn was slowly crippling away while I was getting very depressed. The only thing I felt like it diminished the pain was smoking. I felt like the only time I was able to relax was when I smoked. Although this helped me through the hardest part, it significantly affected my studies as I fell deeper into my depressive thoughts. Even though I would still attend class the effort I put into them was practically non existent. I put my academic journey in jeopardy because of this decision.

Fast forward a little bit, I isolated myself from friends and family and found it difficult to ask for help. After feeling lost, I came across a video on nutrition. I learned the importance of not only giving your body the nutrients you need but also trying to change what happens in your mind negatively to a positive approach. I started focusing on my diet, stretching, meditating, and constantly working out as a way to slowly let go of my smoking habits and pursue the person I really want to be, someone I can be proud of.

I learned how unhealthy coping skills can be a temporary relief for something far greater than what we believe is happening. In the long term, these unhealthy coping skills can be detrimental to us. Giving yourself time to fully understand the problem and identify healthy coping skills is extremely important to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

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I have recently been accepted to the BSN-IH nursing program for the summer start. I am excited about this, but it also came with some compliance requirements that I have to complete. The requirements are not difficult, but they can be troublesome if not planned accordingly. It has been a little stressful since I still have to worry about the assignments for my other classes, and studying for exams.

The coping mechanism that I have used to relieve some of this stress is more oriented towards problem-based coping. I cannot just put all the stuff that I have to do on the side, but I can organize dates to work on certain tasks. What I have been doing for the past couple of weeks is dedicating certain days to specific tasks. I picked this way of doing things because it helps me not feel overloaded and having to worry about so many things in one day. It may seem basic to some, but I feel that this can sometimes be overlooked, especially as college students; this could stem from wanting to get everything done as soon as possible, and maybe going through things too fast. I have felt a lot less stressed lately, knowing that I can still do everything I need without feeling overloaded.

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Recently I was super stressed because I had this big assignment due Wednesday night, but I’ve been so busy with work, not even just school stuff. I work a lot, and by the time I get home I’m just so tired, and honestly school is the last thing on my mind. I didn’t even get to start the assignment until like 10:45pm that night, and I was lowkey freaking out because I knew I had to get it done but I had no energy. What I ended up doing was turning my phone off completely and putting it on Do Not Disturb so I wouldn’t get distracted. I even put it across the room so I wouldn’t keep grabbing it out of habit. I just sat down and focused the best I could. That’s honestly rare for me, but I knew I didn’t have a choice. I’d say this was a problem-focused coping strategy because I wasn’t really trying to deal with how I felt; I was just trying to fix the situation. I had a deadline, and I needed to get it done, so I focused on the problem itself, like okay, how do I get through this assignment now. It actually worked out pretty well. I was still tired and stressed, but I got it done and turned it in on time. I was proud of myself for pushing through even though I really didn’t want to. I think it helped to just block out the distractions and force myself to focus, even if it wasn’t perfect. I’m still working on managing my time better with work and school, but in that moment, this was the best way I could handle it.

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Anxiety Coping Mechanisms - Carolina Figueroa 

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Anxiety Coping Mechanisms - Carolina Figueroa 

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Ever since high school I have struggled with anxiety. At first, it started when I would walk around school. Then, it crept into classes especially during tests or quizzes, it even followed me into college. Back then I didn't know how to deal with my anxiety attacks. I would just have to ride them out and wait for it to end. I decided about a year ago that I didn't want to feel helpless during those moments and so I started researching. I stumbled upon an app called Finch which offers a lot of services regarding mental health. They have resources to use when going through a crisis and I have explored these options. When I catch myself entering a highly anxious state, I made it a habit of going on the app and using their recommended activities. I believe this has taught me an emotion-focused coping mechanism because it focuses on how to change how you feel and then it recommends to seek a trusted individual. I'd say that these exercises are effective at managing stress and now I'm not as worried about having to take care of an anxiety attack.

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For my senior year of highschool, I moved cities. I was completely uprooted from everything familiar. Friends, environment, school, and even family was different. I felt lonely, lost, and went through an identity crisis. The worst coping mechanism I used was sleep. I slept so much, that i refused to eat. I was lethargic from not eating, so i'd wake up, feel hungry and tired, and go back to sleep to forget about it. I wouldn't eat for 16-18 hours at a time. I lost alot of weight, and it took years for me to no longer feel lethargic all of the time. Every day, I was exhausted, and 10 pounds underweight. I didn't reach a healthy weight and energy level until 4 years later.

A healthy coping mechanism I've used is problem based coping. Last year, I was no longer able to work with a client that i had for over 2 years. It broke my heart to no longer be with that client, but I continued forward. I reflected upon any mistakes, and corrected them. I became professional and organized. I began notifying of schedule changes weeks and even months before, and upped my communication with my bosses by a landslide. I took accountability and corrected my faults, and decided to be better.

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 Evaluating Unhealthy vs. Healthy Coping Skills

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 Evaluating Unhealthy vs. Healthy Coping Skills

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As a freshman coming into college, I was not sure what to expect. Coming out of state was a huge change for me. It took me a couple months to adjust and get used to this new life I had started for myself.

During those months, I had found myself creating an unhealthy coping mechanism which was stress eating. I would eat anytime I would still eat even though I was not hungry. I then noticed I gained weight. After I noticed that, I took a step back and learned to break this habit and overcame it.

It affected me long term because it took me a while to lose that weight I had put on from the stress.

A healthy coping skill that I learned is self care. Knowing when I am stressed I like to distract myself so I like to go to the gym go for a run or simply doing something that helps me within that moment. I learned that there are two sides to everything, it is just how you want to handle them.

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This past semester, I found myself in a difficult mental space where I had been feeling increasingly unmotivated, isolated, and overwhelmed. Being far from home and dealing with financial stress added to the pressure. I realized I was struggling more than I was thriving and that if I wanted to be successful in school that I would have to make a change.

Rather than continuing to push through in a situation that was deteriorating my mental health, I recently made the decision to transfer to a school closer to home. This decision will allow me to reduce financial stress and be in a more supportive environment, so I believe it's the best option for me.

The coping mechanism that I decided to use was problem-focused. Instead of just dealing with how the stress makes me feel emotionally, I am changing the situation by making the decision to transfer schools. I believe this approach is most effective for me because taking action to improve my situation helps me feel less stuck and more hopeful about the future in terms of my academic performance and mental stability.

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The most stressful situation in my life thus far has been the transition to early adulthood, and the responsibilities and expectations that accompany that. Various things have presented themselves as sources of stress to me, such as political world problems, living on my own and managing my own money, and relationships. The most immediate coping mechanism I would use when I began to become overwhelmed with all these stressors was food. I found myself spending a lot of money at fast food places much too frequently. I have learned to identify this habit as an unhealthy one, and have instead replaced it with journaling as a way to manage my stress. I personally find journaling to be a very effective way to manage my emotions, and I chose this approach because I'm the kind of person that always has a string of dialogue running through their head.

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One stressful situation that I recently faced was an overload of homework/schoolwork due to my procrastination. I had a paper, a few different assignments, and a test all due in the same week, along with the fact that I had to work on the weekend.

In order to cope with this large amount of schoolwork, I decided to change my procrastinating ways and create a schedule for myself. I made a plan to divide each section of work into one day of the week, so that I did not have to worry about it all on one night. This allowed me to finish all my work on time without waiting until the last second.

I would say that this is a problem-focused coping mechanism because I changed my procrastination habits to remove stress in my life. I chose this approach because it allowed me to finish all my work on time and also gave me time to do other things, such as meet with friends. This was effective in managing my stress because I turned in most of my work before the due date, which made the final day much less stressful.

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For many years now, I've dealt with an anxiety disorder. I was about 12 years old when I was diagnosed and, at the time, started going to therapy. My parents were against medicating me until i was older and give me the choice to medicate or not. Although therapy has helped, I have/had developed coping mechanisms that i believe to be emotion focused. Fortunately for me, I have learned to use my anxiety in high stress situations and can preform very well under pressure, whether it be at work or school. However, when it comes to my personal life or free time, I tend to get overwhelmed very easily. I few mechanisms I've developed over the years are isolating, rationalizing, and self-soothing. If i'm overwhelmed with a work load like cleaning or running an errand, I will walk away from it and do a less tedious task or giving myself a "side quest" that serves as a rendezvous point to get me closer to my end goal (ie. i have to grocery shop, but I'll meet a friend for coffee at the local cafe first/after so i dread it less). I'll think of my task more objectively rather than as a tedious process with multiple steps. I'll also do some self care after completing a task like an intricate skin routine after an hour long shower at the end of a productive day. I think this helps me correlate being productive with a be reward of being able to relax and feel nice because I've earned it.

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1. PROMPT 1 | Comparing Coping Mechanisms: Reflect on a stressful situation you've recently faced and describe the coping mechanism you used. Was it problem-focused or emotion-focused? Discuss why you chose this approach and how effective it was in managing your stress.

A stressful situation I have recently faced was taking four exams for high-level difficulty STEM courses in one day. I spent the beginning of this semester planning out my homework schedule and exams for the next few months, only to find out most of my exams for several courses would land on the same day. This was especially stressful, as it meant that I would need to start planning my study schedule two weeks in advance so I could feel prepared for all my exams. In order to combat this situation, I coped by taking time to meditate everyday in order to calm my stress before studying. This was an effective emotion-focused approach, as it allowed me to manage my struggling emotions so I could get into a better headspace before starting to study - allowing me to retain the information I was studying much more effectively.

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For the past couple months I've been searching non stop for internships so that I can further my career. That on top of school, and taking care of my mother whos' been sick recently, I've felt extremely stressed. Usually I go to the gym and that gets some of the stress out, or I comfort myself by watching a movie or something, but I found stress relief in a way I wouldn't expect. My mother purchased a couple trees for the front yard that she wanted planted and since I have experience in landscaping she asked if I would plant them. I worked with big trees that were gruesome work, but these were smaller saplings that were pretty easy to deal with. I dug a couple holes, but the trees in, refilled them and mixed the soil in with mulch and put the hose in there so that the water would fill the voids, and then after made a water well around the trees decorated with rocks and it turned out beautiful. It was something constructive, and creative and really relived a lot of stress that had been bearing on me for a while. This was emotion focused because it required physical activity and that combined with being outside improved my emotional state.

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A recent stressful situation I have faced recently was a week where my workload was high. I had three exams in one week, with two of them being on the same day. I felt very stressed out because I felt it was so much material to learn in a week. The coping mechanism I used was problem- focused. Instead of complaining and worrying about my workload, I set study times to prepare for my exams in advanced to reduce the anxiety I had for them. This approach was very effective because studying helped me know the material and it created confidence for my exams.

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There have been many times in my life when things get to me more than others, and I tend to distract myself rather than face my feelings head on. One way that could be considered an unhealthy coping mechanism is doing schoolwork. This may sound like a good thing, but I have come to learn that I am using my work as a distraction, and once that distraction is gone, all the feelings come flooding in at once, ultimately making the situation much worse. However, I have learned this about myself and have instead taken the time to realize what I am doing in the moment. To cope in a healthier way, I have continued to do my work, but I have also told myself that if I am feeling any emotion, I need to feel that emotion in its entirety and take a break from doing work. This has allowed me to navigate my feelings while also not completely taking away a coping mechanism I have been using my whole life. I am hoping in time, I will continue to grow and change how I cope, but for now, that is what works.

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Recently, I faced a stressful situation while studying for an exam. I had a heavy homework load and was also working at my job, which made it challenging to maintain a healthy work-life balance and my mental well-being. I felt overwhelmed trying to complete everything, especially while trying to get enough sleep and having no time for myself. To cope with the stress, I used a problem-focused approach. I assessed all the tasks I needed to complete and my work shifts. Then, I created a detailed planner for my week, along with a to-do list to help me manage my homework and other responsibilities.

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Evaluating Unhealthy vs. Healthy Coping Skills - Noah Canisales

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Evaluating Unhealthy vs. Healthy Coping Skills - Noah Canisales

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A time I experienced an unhealthy coping skill was after my ex-girlfriend broke up with me. This was my first relationship, so it stung greatly after she did not want to continue our relationship. Being my first relationship, I was heartbroken, and I did not know how to cope properly so that I would inflict physical pain onto myself. It would start with pinching myself and eventually begin to scratch myself. I would eventually, in a realization moment, realize that it was unhealthy to do that, that if I wanted to repent, then I could do something else, but it would not help. I would talk with my counselor to develop better habits, which would lead me to the healthy habits I use today.

During my senior year of high school, my family received a death threat, which we would later find out was a scam, leading my family to run off into hiding. Living from hotel to hotel for two weeks was one of the hardest points in my life. Luckily, I would not succumb to the pains of this situation; instead, I would find a good coping mechanism with family and friends. I was able to confide in my parents about how the problem was making me feel, and they allowed me to speak my mind in a safe environment. Likewise, my friends were able to support my family with any item that we needed and gave me an open ear whenever I was dealing with my emotions. Though grave, this experience let me see that I had great coping mechanisms with my friends and family. Overall, it gave me great reassurance about how I can rely on my friends and family whenever needed.

Overall, I have learned a lot about different types of coping mechanisms. Being on the receiving end of an unhealthy coping mechanism makes me realize that I can understand how people develop these bad mechanisms. I was luckily able to find a good mechanism that I use today: talking with my family or friends and listening to music to deal with my stress. I learned that the best people to talk to are those closest to you because they will want the best for you regardless of what happens.

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I am currently pregnant with my first child. Due to certain health circumstances, I always knew it might be difficult for me to have a child, but I have always wanted to become a mom.

Last weekend I had a concerning complication arise that landed me in the ER. My husband and I waited for about 5 hours while they ran tests on me and finally they gave me an ultrasound. During those hours, we used emotion focused coping skills to keep ourselves sane, as there was nothing we could do to change the situation. We distracted each other with conversation about other topics, I used deep breathing to calm my sometimes racing and anxious heart, and we walked around the hospital while we waited to hear back from the Dr.

Fortunately, my ultrasound tech blessed me with the sound of my healthy baby's heartbeat, even though she went against hospital protocol to let me hear it.

Overall, these approaches for coping helped me in managing my stress and I was able to focus more on what I can control, instead of what I cannot. I also regulated my emotions instead of spiraling to the worst possible scenario.

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In the last couple of months, I have had a heavy workload comprising homework assignments, tests, quizzes, and studying. All of this work has negatively impacted my stress levels. I felt very stressed out during this time. To manage my stress levels, I had some coping mechanisms. I decided to use an action-focused mentality. Instead of waiting last minute to complete my workload, I set times throughout the week to complete school work, and I made sure to stay physically active by going to the gym. Staying physically active and having a schedule for my workload helped me to manage my stress levels and complete my work efficiently.

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One of the more stressful and anxiety inducing experiences that I've faced recently was moving away to college. I'm originally from Washington, so moving to Arizona was a really big step that I had to do all by myself. Leading up to it, I was really anxious about making new friends, missing home too much, doing well in my classes, and just overall navigating living on my own. One of the things I did to try to cope with these stresses when I got to college was doing my best to get involved and keep myself busy. I was able to join a sorority and get an on campus job my second semester, which really helped take my mind off of the stressful aspects of living away from home and being at college. This coping mechanism was primarily emotion-focused, as it helped me manage the feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and homesickness, rather than directly changing the source of the stress. By staying busy and surrounding myself with new people and activities, I was able to create a sense of routine and support, which made the transition a lot easier. I chose this approach because I knew I couldn't change the fact that I had moved away from home, but I could change how I responded to it emotionally. Overall, I think it was an effective way to handle the stress. I still miss home sometimes but having a community and a sense of purpose on campus has made a big difference in how I feel each day.

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One recent stressful situation I faced was my grandma being in the hospital. Seeing someone I love in a vulnerable state brought up a lot of anxiety, fear, and helplessness. It felt like there was so little I could control, and that made things even more overwhelming.

To cope, I leaned on an emotion-focused coping mechanism. I spent time talking with close friends and family, sharing my fears and trying to process what I was feeling. I also journaled to get some of the worry out of my head and onto paper. On particularly tough days, I took long walks or listened to calming music to regulate my emotions. I chose this approach because the situation wasn’t something I could immediately “fix.” My grandma’s care was in the hands of her medical team, and no amount of problem-solving would change that in the moment.

Emotion-focused coping helped me manage the stress by giving me space to feel and release some of the pressure. It didn’t change the situation, but it helped me feel more grounded and capable of supporting my grandma and the rest of my family. It was effective in the sense that I was able to stay present, remain emotionally available, and not get completely consumed by the fear and uncertainty.

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Something I've dealt with and utilized various coping mechanisms for is my ADHD, and the anxiety I experience as a result of it. It causes me to stress out and feel overwhelmed at situations that many other people might be able to work through. Through a lot of my life, I would often shut down and pursue methods to keep my anxiety at bay even if they were not necessarily the most healthy, nor effective in the long run. However, in the last year I decided to take up going to yoga consistently, and I have noticed tremendous effects on my mood, anxiety, and emotional regulation. Taking an hour out of my day to focus solely on myself and be present allows me to be mindful and slow my thoughts, even learning to notice stressful thinking but not follow it. This came into play about a week ago-- I was overwhelmed and found myself unable to stop thinking about multiple situations, and speculating on future issues. I took a yoga class that night and was able to focus on my breath and the present instead of allowing these worries to consume me.

I think this method is mainly emotional, due to it regulating my stress and providing me a space to feel calm and slow down. However, I can also see it as problem-solving in a way, considering that part of the issue isn't necessarily what I'm overthinking, but the fact that I am overthinking as a whole.

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About two years ago I lost my sister. Of course I was having a hard time coping with the grief of losing her and I wasn;t handling it the best I could have handled it. I started unhealthy coping habits such as sleeping a lot, hiding away in my room, and avoiding my feelings. This led to me being very angry and falling out of touch with my friends and family which made me feel very alone. Eventually I learned that the way I was dealing with it was not healthy so I tried different ways to deal, I turned to writing in my journal, taking less naps, spending time with loved ones, and I stopped avoiding my feelings and allowed myself to feel sad about losing her. This helped me be less angry all of the time and more present in my friends and families lives.

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I recently found myself in a tough circumstance where I had several assignments that were due in the same week, in addition to personal obligations that made time management challenging. It became too much to handle the pressure of meeting deadlines while juggling everything else. I employed a problem-focused coping strategy to deal with it. I made a thorough to-do list, dividing each task into smaller, more doable ones and designating particular times to complete them. To prevent burnout, I set up time for pauses in between the most important tasks. I decided on this course of action because it gave me a sense of control over the circumstance again. I was able to lessen the uncertainty that was stressing me out by planning ahead and arranging my obligations. I was particularly drawn to this approach because it offered a realistic, doable strategy for addressing the workload itself, which was the source of my stress, as opposed to merely controlling my feelings about it. All things considered, this coping mechanism helped me control my stress. It increased my confidence in managing hectic times in addition to helping me keep organized and achieve deadlines. Although the stress wasn't entirely gone, it was turned into motivation by providing me with specific actions to take.

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The pressure I have been facing recently is that I need to complete a group project for my major course and a difficult coding assignment while reviewing for an exam in a subject that I am very bad at.

Overall, I think my coping mechanism is problem-focused. Although in the beginning, I tried to spend a lot of time on my coding assignments and avoid memorizing those hard-to-remember policies. But in the end, I accomplished these things by making a review plan, getting up early to review, and seeking help during office hours.

In the past, I used the method of temporary evasion to deal with this kind of pressure, but it didn't bring good results. I would be overly anxious and regretful in the later stage, stay up late to review, and sometimes it would also lead to illness or failure to achieve the ideal grades.

Therefore, I think that when facing pressure, evading is of no use. It will only aggravate the problem. However, a reasonable plan can help me deal with it better.

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Recently I experienced a lot of stress while preparing for a big group presentation in one of my business classes. Coordinating with team members, meeting deadlines, and making sure the content was polished put a lot of pressure on me. To cope I used a problem-focused coping mechanism. I made a detailed schedule, broke the project into smaller tasks, and communicated frequently with my group to ensure everything stayed on track.

I chose this approach because the stress I was feeling was directly tied to a specific problem, the presentation, and I believed that actively working on it would reduce my anxiety. This method was very effective. It helped me stay organized, reduced last-minute panic, and gave me a sense of control over the situation. By addressing the root of the stress I was able to stay calm and confident when it came time to present.

This experience showed me that when a stressful situation can be changed or managed directly, a problem-focused coping strategy can be really empowering and productive.

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After a really bad fallen out with a close friend, who kind of blamed me for the situation. I really took what they said to heart. I decided well if I was an awful person I would do awful things. Lie, manipulate people really kind of just walk around like a person no one wanted to be around. I didn't know how to go about the situation at all. I didn't want to open up and discuss my problems. Anytime I started to feel bad about the fallen out, I would shove my emotions down. Stopping tears, spending too much time on my cellphone. Anything to distract me from my feelings and emotions. This went on for months. I just wouldn't talk to anyone suppress any emotion I had. It go to the point where it was so bad I felt nothing. Like completely empty on the inside. In the end, I finally was able to get open when my sister ask me three simple words. "Are you okay?"

A time when I used a healthy coping mechanism had to be after my parents got a divorce, I would constantly journal about all the emotions and pain I was in because of the situation. I would pour all of it out onto a piece of paper. Which led to my emotions coming out: sadness, anger, frustration. It allowed me to deal with the situation and helped me to notice that what I was going through was sometimes a lot for someone so young.

From both these situations I learned emotions and feelings are powerful. That they truly have effect on you physically and mentally. It helped me to realize that the best way to deal with something is to talk through everything you are feeling.

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A stressful situation I recently faced was touring a home that felt like a great fit for my partner and me after searching for almost a year, and not getting it. We were really hopeful, the tour went really well, and the person touring us said she would contact us if we got it or even if we didn't get it. After that, she never followed up, we tried reaching out, but no response, so it just became very clear that we didn't get it. We were disappointed and a little bit angry and it felt like another setback for us.

To cope, I used mostly emotion-based strategies. Since there wasn’t much I could do to change the outcome or force communication, I had to focus on processing my feelings. I allowed myself to vent and talk through the frustration with someone I trusted, and I reminded myself that this was just a part of our journey, that something better was coming, and that this house just wasn't meant to be. I also took a step back from the search for a little while to avoid burnout and give myself space to recharge emotionally. I chose this approach because trying to take action in the moment felt pointless and would only add more stress. Emotion-focused coping helped me accept the disappointment without letting it overwhelm me or turn into hopelessness. It wasn’t a perfect fix, but it helped me regain perspective. It reminded me that while this one opportunity didn’t work out, it wasn’t the end of the road and that good things were coming. We had every right to be frustrated, but also every reason to keep going and find the right one.

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Comparing Coping Mechanisms- Isaiah Starks

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Comparing Coping Mechanisms- Isaiah Starks

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Recently, I received and accepted an amazing new job opportunity. However, this job requires for me to move and relocate across the country to Virginia near Washington D.C. I start this job on May 5, which is right at the end of the semester when a lot of big projects will be due. Aside from this, I have had multiple family deaths this month, so balancing school (5 7-week classes), with moving across the country to start a new job, deaths, and more, my stress levels have been extremely high.

To combat this, I have focused on utilizing problem-focused coping mechanisms, because realistically I don't have the time for emotional based coping at this time with so much on the line. I have made sure to write my weekly schedule every Sunday to prepare for the week, and daily I go back over my schedule and make any amendments that I may need to. I have lists set up to organize everything it is that I'm doing, prioritized by most to least important things. My approach has been very task focused to ensure I can still complete this semester with straight A's, successfully complete this move, settle into my new place and job, and after that I will have some more time to be able to emotionally cope.

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Last semester, in my English class, I had a project due on a rhetorical analysis essay. I was stressed and losing focus on how I could incorporate more into my main purpose towards my topic and its connection to rhetorical elements before the deadline. It was a big and first project of the course, which added more pressure to me, considering I had never written a rhetorical analysis essay before, while some classmates had done it before.

Something I did involving a problem-focused coping is to set a reminder and have a time slot dedicated to writing some thoughts or drafting more on the topic so that I can easily write the rest of my essay. The solution, along with this, was removing my phone from my view so I don't get distracted. I chose this approach because it helped me concentrate on finding the main rhetorical elements by researching more on this topic, and I was able to finish my essay that same day before it was due in class. By doing this, I was able to concentrate well on my next project and ended up feeling much relaxed about that one.

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Something I was disappointed seeing unmentioned in the verywellmind article was how self harm can be used as a coping strategy. Growing up, I've always had an issue with nail biting that quickly developed into dermatophagia, an OCD-related disorder that has the subject pick at, bite, or rip off parts of their skin, typically near fingers or knuckles. I suffered with this issue nearly my entire life, and had very little understanding of my problem, always assuming it was just a "bad habit". When I turned about 18, I started to pick up smoking cigarettes and vaping in an effort to try and help myself calm down and stop biting my fingers. Unfortunately, this had the exact opposite effect and for much of my undergraduate years, I have been struggling to quit both my smoking habit and my finger biting issue.

With some help through therapy and more education about how OCD affects people, I've realized that I am severely under-stimulated, and oral stimulation (like biting fingers, smoking) were ways I was turning to cope with other stressful and uncontrollable aspects in my life. Recently I've been trying healthier ways to keep my fingers out of my mouth, like chewing gum and nail polish, both of which are already showing a massive improvement, and my fingers have been healing tremendously. As a string player and someone who hopes to have a performance career with Viola, healthy fingers is an incredibly important factor I need to consider, and weighing this has also made it easier to stop biting my skin and find something else to help occupy my mind.

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Something I have always struggled with throughout my life is managing my mood, especially when life circumstances get stressful. I have a mental health disorder called Bipolar Disorder which affects my life in many different ways, but most recently has had the biggest impact on my motivation. It can often be difficult to get things done when your mood is so dramatically skewed, which in turn can cause anxiety regarding school, work, and other crucial aspects of life.

I have recently used both problem-based and emotion-based coping skills to manage the anxiety this has caused. One way I have used problem-based coping is by reaching out for help. When I got to a point when I knew I needed someone to help me carry the weight of my emotional burdens, I was able to receive help and back on the right track. I have also been making to-do lists and setting small, realistic goals to help me stay motivated each day. An example of how I have used emotion-based coping is by engaging in grounding activities such as self-care, exercise, and meditation/mindfulness techniques. I set small goals like walking on the treadmill for 45 minutes or journaling in the morning. Another emotion-based coping skill I find really helpful is guided meditation videos on YouTube. Taking a few minutes out of my day to ground myself and recenter my focus helps me to address my feelings as they come and provide a distraction from stress and anxiety. This can also be used as a proactive coping method. Practicing recentering daily can make it easier to calmly address stressful, unforeseen circumstances as they come.

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A recent stressful situation that I was faced with was my math class. Math has always been my hardest subject and after being placed into math 116 along with a really tough scheduled and I was struggling a lot to manage my classes as well as my 35 hour work week that I have. This was definitely a problem-focused situation and in order to cope for it, I was able to drop math as I recognized there would be no way I would succeed in the class due to all of the other stressful factors in my life. I was able to meet with my advisor and figure out how to make it work for my schedule and I'm now taking it over the summer as I know I'll be able to give it a lot more of my attention. This ended up being very effective for my stress and has helped me a lot throughout the semester.

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I have OCD, so there have been many times where my coping skills were actually compulsions. During my sophomore year of college, this became especially difficult. I was constantly distracted in class, always on edge, and my grades began to slip. The compulsions felt like a way to manage the stress, but in the long run, they ended up making things worse and really impacted my academic performance.

Eventually, I started therapy and began learning healthier ways to cope with stress. With time and support, I developed better strategies and started to feel more in control. My performance in school improved, but more importantly, I felt more present and grounded. Looking back, I’ve learned how important it is to recognize the difference between what feels like relief and what actually helps.

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Since starting school again, I have become extremely busy with between work and school. I am a full-time student and a work 50 plus hours a week. I have had to change the way I cope with stress; I used to come home after a long day and want a drink just to relax and take the edge off. Although, I thought it seemed to help, it would also make me sleepy and not have very match motivation to complete my schoolwork, that then lead to me not achieving the grades I wanted last semester.

This semester I have set aside time and have become more organized to help not feel so overwhelmed with it all. Creating a calendar and allowing my self certain days and times to try and focus on every class this semester. So far, the result I have noticed is that I feel like I can actually be successful and not just feel like it so much to do all at once. It has helped my health due to the fact that I rarely feel like I need something after work and overall attitude about school has become more positive.

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Evaluating Unhealthy vs. Healthy Coping Skills

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Evaluating Unhealthy vs. Healthy Coping Skills

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There was a time last semester when I felt super overwhelmed with school, work, and personal stuff all piling up. Instead of talking about it or doing something healthy, I kind of shut down and started avoiding everything like assignments, texts, even friends. That was definitely an unhealthy coping skill, and it just made everything worse. Deadlines got missed, and I felt even more anxious and isolated. Later on, I tried journaling and going on walks when things got stressful again. I didn’t think it would help that much, but surprisingly it made a big difference. Writing things down helped me process what I was feeling, and the walks gave me a break without making me feel guilty. Comparing both, I learned that avoiding stress doesn’t actually make it go away, it just builds up. Choosing something small but healthy can help keep things from feeling so heavy.

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I had course in the beginning of the semester that was completely online and I had a really hard time with keeping up with my school work because I started working 6 days a week and I also had in person classes that seemed to be more important to prioritize. I started to really fall behind in that class and eventually had to drop it. My way of coping with my busy schedule was knowing that I had work to do in that class but knowing it was so much that I just ignored it until I had to withdraw from the class. To keep a good amount of credits I took this course. I still work 6 days a week but I decided to really focus on how I can be successful in this class. Instead of being overwhelmed by the work I decided to figure out when all the due dates are and plan my week accordingly. I know all of the assignments are due on Friday night so I make sure to know what they are and how much time they will take in the beginning of the week so that I don't stress myself out and shutdown on that Friday. I am proud to have coped with my busy schedule in a healthy way.

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While signing up for spring classes, I faced a technical issue, my UAccess account was locked for three days, and the classes I needed to graduate were filling up quickly. I was incredibly stressed, frantically emailing advisors and tech support to get my account unlocked. After a day or two of worrying, I decided to let go of the stress and convinced myself that everything would work out. In the meantime, I turned to dancing to release my anxiety. I’ve been dancing for years, it’s something I even do at 2 a.m. in my kitchen. It’s relaxing, and the physical movement helps me feel better. I’d say this was an example of emotion-focused coping, since the situation was out of my control at that point. I did everything I could and left the rest to my advisors. In the end, it all worked out: I got into all my classes, stayed on track to graduate, and even lucked out with some great professors.

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Recently, I had been struggling to find a job in personal training, I wanted to do so because it has always been a dream of mine, but it would help build my resume for future occupations since I want to be a physical therapist. My issue was that I didn't have a certification to train personally, and many places required it or wouldn't look at you without one. So I was able to filter jobs that didn't need them, and landed an interview and a secondary interview. This was a problem-based coping mechanism, I felt this was the most effective because I tackled the issue head-on. The mental approach for me, I feel, makes me much more lackadaisical and not target the situation as progressively as I should. This strategy has always worked best for me because when I targeted situations by problems and not emotions, I felt I was much more successful and motivated since I understood where the problem was coming from and could find advice or knew how to solve it.

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Late January I was extremely stressed out with my classes when I had just learned about my uncle's death. I was freaking out about being able to manage the workload, especially for my 7 week class, and I didn't know what to do. I had to go out of town for almost a week for the funeral, and I had too many different emotions going on at once. I came to the conclusion that I needed to drop some of my classes, which unfortunately made me more stressed because I had never done so before. I ended up dropping two classes, and in return I added one to this spring semester, which ended being a great choice. My coping mechanisms were emotion focused. I called my mom and talked to her for a couple of hours and she helped me sort everything out. In regards to my uncle, it was also emotion focused. I told my two close friends about it and made sure I was rarely alone. Overall both coping mechanisms worked really well, because I have a tendency to keep my problems to myself and isolate. Going out of my comfort zone and seeking help from them allowed me to healthily process my decision and my emotions.

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Recently I have been dealing with a lot of stress regarding my admittance to the nursing program I was accepted into. I found that there were a few things that I wasn't up to date on, and I only had a short time frame to get them done to keep my acceptance status. I began to worry that I would lose my place in the program and would have to reapply for the next cycle. I immediately felt defeated and assumed that I would get my requirements done in time. I didn't necessarily have a coping mechanism besides worrying and feeling like I was out of time. After I got through that feeling, I focused on problem solving and working towards finishing everything I need as quickly as I can. My initial coping wasn't helping me get anywhere, but as I switched into problem focus coping I was able to get a lot more done. I am definitely working on skipping the worry when I am faced with stress and focusing on problem solving as soon as I deal with anxiety about a situation.

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A stressful situation I had recently was when a bunch of assignments and exams were all due in the same week. I felt super overwhelmed and wasn’t sure how I’d get everything done on time. To deal with it, I made a to-do list, broke everything into smaller tasks, and created a schedule to stay on track. I also emailed one of my professors to ask for a small extension. I picked this approach because I felt like actually doing something about the problem would help me more than just stressing out or ignoring it. It worked pretty well, having a plan made me feel less anxious, and I finished everything without the extra stress.

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A recent stressful event that I encountered was how to deal with two deadlines that were back to back, and balancing fraternity events while also maintaining personal matters back at home. The event was indeed stressful for me as I felt overwhelmed, like I did not have enough time to complete my two tasks. My response to the event was to deal with the issues in a problem solving manner. I therefore sat down and listed all the things that I had to do, I then prioritized them and set daily goals to achieve small wins. Sometimes I would also switch off my phone and concentrate on my tasks without any distractions.

The approach was selected by me because I knew that stress was coming from workload, not my emotional distress. So instead of venting and trying to relax, I decided to fight with the source of the stress. To be honest, it worked extremely well. It did not finish all the work; however, I felt more controlled and structured, which helped me to decrease my anxiety. That was a sign to me that problem-focused coping should be chosen when you can really do something about this situation. It helped me to complete all the work in time and reminded me that action is often better than avoidance.

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This week I had a stressful situation with my family where it was affecting my school and scoial life. I was very stressed out because my parents depedned on me a lot while I still had my own life here at college. I felt overwhelmed, sad, angry, frustrated and so much more. But I remembered some of the coping mechanisms I used when I went to therapy. I went on several walks throughout the day arond my dorm to make sure I dont get too overhwhelmed and not do any of my work. I also made sure to have a schedule throughout my day so I wouldnt feel overhwlmed in what to do. These two really helped me this week to make sure I was still on top of all my work and to help my own sanity.

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Recently, I faced a particularly stressful situation involving a major assignment with multiple components: a research essay and an artistic representation on the topic of substance use. As someone who struggles with sleep consistency and tends to procrastinate, often due to distractions of my phone, I found myself falling behind. The closer the deadline came, the more anxious I became. I knew I had a lot of work to do and very little time to do it, and the stress was beginning to affect my ability to focus.

To manage the situation, I used a problem-focused coping strategy. Rather than trying to ignore the stress or vent about it, I decided to directly address the source of the problem which was the assignment itself. I broke the project into smaller tasks while gathering research, outlining the essay, and writing the artist’s statement. I also used screen-time blockers to temporarily lock access to my most distracting apps, giving myself structured blocks of time to work with minimal interruptions.

I chose this problem-focused approach because the stress stemmed from something concrete and solvable—a looming deadline. Emotion-focused coping (such as trying to relax or talk it out) might have helped me feel better temporarily, but it wouldn’t have addressed the root cause. I needed a plan and action.

In the end, the strategy was effective. I didn’t finish early, but I completed the assignment on time and felt good about the final product. More importantly, taking a structured, solution-oriented approach gave me a sense of control and helped reduce my anxiety. It reminded me that even when I’m struggling with sleep or distractions, I can still overcome stress by breaking problems down and tackling them step by step.

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I have used unhealthy coping mechanisms plenty of times, doing homework, at work, and in high school. High school being the easiest to identify was that I ended up dropping out and having extremely negative thoughts. I distanced myself from others and dug myself deeper and deeper into a hole that I felt was inescapable. Now that I am in college classes and much happier with a much better view of people and the world. I am able to manage my time better and actually enjoy my classes, engaging with them better. I went from dropping out to being in college classes that I thought I would never even attempt trying. From both experiences, I am able to balance the times I need a break and times I need to lock in and get my work done.

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A stressful situation that I recently went through was when my knee subluxed (went out and in) when I was going down the stairs in the parking garage. This has happened to me many times before but this time was different. Not only because it hasn’t happened in a long time, but it hurt the most this time and I could hear it pop. Every time that it happens, I am scared that the next time it is actually going to fully dislocate. Either way I am probably going to have to get surgery on my knee soon and that thought scares me a lot. Not only was I worried about that, but since I crashed right away when I got to my dorm, I forgot to do my exam for my chem lecture that was due that night. I woke up sore and tired from crying the previous night and all the sudden I remembered the awful mistake that I made the night before. But, I decided to be proactive and emailed my professor, explaining the situation and asked her for an extension. Luckily, I am really close with her and we get along quite well. But still, I had a really hard time coping with this since I really wanted an A in this class so that I could keep my GPA high. I was anxious about it for the entire weekend, not being able to do anything else. Although I had a hard time being patient and waiting for a response, I feel like I used problem-based coping in this situation because I reached out to my professor right away to fix the problem. I chose this approach because I knew it would be harder to get an extension the longer I put it off. Thankfully, she was more than willing to give me extra time to do my exam and even asked how I was doing. This approach was very effective in managing my stress because I resolved the issue fast so that I can learn from and move on from the mistake I made.

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I work in customer service at a coffee shop so I deal with unpleasant interactions each day. I take orders, serve coffee/ food, as well as other small tasks. Typically when customers are having a bad day it gets taken out on me when I am on the register. I have had people come in and get frustrated when we can’t understand them or when things don't go their way. I have had past trauma with yelling so I tend to get very triggered when I experience this. When yelling occurs, I use an emotion focused coping mechanism. I know that I can not prevent this problem from happening so this is why I choose to control my reaction, rather than the people. I am currently in therapy to learn strategies that will help my emotions towards raising voices. I usually take a deep breath, remember that I am not in the same environment where my trauma took place, and take my mind to a happy place.

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Recently, I’ve been dealing with a lot of stress from schoolwork. There’s been so much to keep up with that I put assignments off until the last minute, which has only overwhelmed me. The stress started to build up, especially when all the deadlines piled on each other. To cope with the situation, I decided to take a more structured approach by doing a little bit of work each night after my job and even using my breaks to catch up on assignments. I think this coping mechanism was primarily problem-focused because I tackled the root of my stress and my workload by breaking it down into manageable pieces and sticking to a schedule. I chose to do this approach because I knew the only way to reduce my stress was to stay on top of my responsibilities rather than avoid them. I think it was effective because it helped me stay productive and meet my deadlines which made the stress much easier to handle.

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When I’m dealing with stress or negative emotions, I usually cope by either sleeping a lot or working a lot more than usual. Sleeping gives me a temporary escape. I often nap when I don’t want to deal with something difficult in hopes it’ll feel easier later. But in reality, it usually just delays the problem and adds to my stress when I wake up and realize nothing has changed. On the other hand, I sometimes go in the opposite direction and overwork myself to stay distracted. While working more can feel productive at first, it also can lead to burnout and exhaustion if I’m not careful. Both of these coping methods are unhealthy in the long run because they don’t help me process what I’m feeling or solve the issue. Instead of avoiding everything, I sometimes go for walks to clear my mind. Getting fresh air and stepping away from everything for a bit helps me feel more grounded and gives me the mental space I need to think more clearly.

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I was feeling completely overwhelmed recently. I had a bunch of assignments due all at once, plus some personal stuff going on that made everything feel even heavier. I could feel the stress building up. I had a tight chest, racing thoughts, that sense of panic creeping in. In that moment, I took a step back and just focused on my breathing.

Deep breathing is something simple, but it helps me slow everything down. I wouldn’t say it solved the problem, but it helped me get out of that spiraling mindset. This kind of strategy is more emotion-focused because it helped me manage how I was feeling, rather than immediately trying to fix the situation itself.

I chose to focus on my breath because I knew I couldn’t think straight until I calmed down. After a few minutes of breathing deeply, I felt more in control and could actually start figuring out what to do first. It wasn’t about avoiding the problem. It was about getting to a place where I could handle it. This approach was really helpful me and I have used it several times.

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As I reflect on a recent stressful situation, I think about a few weeks ago where I was at a training for work. On this night, two of my co-workers and I found ourselves studying for a test we had to take in order to get the training credit and finishing our presentation we had to present the following morning. These tasks themselves were not extremely stressful, but the night before a close relative passed away. I felt the pressure of pulling my weight with the presentation, but at the same time all I wanted to do was cry (allow myself to grieve). Usually crying is my usual coping mechanism, but I felt unable to do so giving my circumstances, so I relied on listening to music. This mechanism was definitely emotion-focused because my goal was to regulate my heightened levels of frustration and anxiousness. Listening to music really helped slow me down and level me. I chose this coping mechanism because it was my next best alternative. What I really wanted to do was cry because that is my way of letting all my emotions out, but since that wasn't an option, I needed to find a way to regulate them (in a sense reach homeostasis emotionally) in order to finish what was being asked of me. In retrospect, it was an effective coping mechanism in order to accomplish the urgent tasks; however, it didn't fully resolve the need to give myself space to feel all the emotions I was feeling.