Coping

[enitharmon]

Yeah, well, I'm pretty rubbish at coping, aren't I?

One setback and I turn into a gibbering wreck. Everything I've achieved over the years vanishes from sight. Paranoia seeps through the cracks in my shell. I get that old, old feeling that goes back to being at school, that the world is scrutinising me minutely, waiting for me to fail so that I can be publicly humiliated and made to recognise my worthlessness.

I need a survival strategy. I have one, in part. Running helps. So do long walks on the beach. Even though reading when I'm agitated is not easy, and writing is impossible because I feel the scrutiny of those eyes, waiting for the slip-up, doing the cross-stitch is soothing for short periods. But I need something else, I think.

Do others have a coping mechanism that they'd like to suggest?

Comments

[laura0141.livejournal.com]

Knitting in a straight line? Please explain?

[swanofkennet.livejournal.com]

Knitting with a fixed number of stitches in a row so I can do it in mental overdrive without having to worry about increasing and decreasing.

I have knitted a good few scarves in my time but never a matinee jacket or a pair of socks!

[laura0141.livejournal.com]

Ah, right, I underestand. I'm only just learning to follow a pattern and really prefer plain, flat knitting too.