This forum; Coping (please read)

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Coping (psychology) is the process of managing taxing circumstances, expending effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems, and seeking to master, minimize, reduce or tolerate stress or conflict.

This is a friendly reminder that this board is about coping. No one has done anything wrong, I promise. I'm posting this cos I'd like to see more people using the board in an effective way which makes a positive difference to their life and it's been mentioned elsewhere that people would like to see coping used in a way that fits it's name more.

The blurb on the index page for this board says;

tips on how to cope: dealing with your feelings, dealing with the consequences of self-harm in your life. share your ideas and maybe pick up some new skills, too. you don't have to want to stop to learn something new here.

There are a lot of venting type threads at the moment. There is nothing wrong with venting, but it'd be good to see more emphasis on learning to cope with the things being vented about. It's frustrating and feels so helpless to read so many posts that seem so stuck and to see people hurting so much. I think it's really important to realise that there is always a way to cope with a situation, even when it feels like there isn't, and to try to find that way.

There are a few ways I'd suggest using coping to vent and work towards finding ways to use the board more effectively. You could post in the venting threads and link to a more proactive post on main, elsewhere on coping, in the workshop or wherever you think it fits best. You could post venting stuff in place and then come here to find ways of coping with that stuff. You could add a disclaimer in your venting post saying something like “I'm posting this here cos I really need to get it out, but I'm doing x to work on dealing with the issue.” Or you could post your venting as a new thread, allowing people to respond and help you work through the problem.

I relate to being in pain and just needing to vent, and I really relate to hurting so much that you can't see any way forward, but it's so important to learn that there is a way forward, there is a way to cope with hard stuff effectively. This board is for skill building, learning coping techniques and sharing what works for you.

[This post was brought to you with much appreciated input from plantt & Mercy Snow.]