Creative Coping

Creative Coping:

A blueprint on how to build a bridge and get over it

Everyone handles grief differently. Some people eat their body weight in food, others hole up in their house like a hoodini disappearing act, and me- well, I either buy shoes, throw myself into studying for my classes, or get a haircut. Random, I know.

Let us review the different kinds of creative copers that exist in our world.

The buyer-  The buyer has a new best friend and it happens to be a little plastic card. The buyer starts their rampage in Target and works all the way back to online stalking the sales of their favorite stores with express delivery. They don’t realize that they need a new pair of curtains until now, or wardrobe, or pet for that matter. Small furry animals never hurt anyone, unless you consider your bank account an ‘anyone’.

The foodie- The foodie is one that drags you to get endless appetizers, and quite literally gets endless aps. They could sit there for hours inhaling the mozzarella sticks and chips that magically keep appearing at the table. But ‘the calories don’t count’ because something bad happened. Then again, the calories never seem to count in college anyway. Dessert anyone?

The INH- The counterpart to the foodie, the “I’m not hungry” (INH) refuses to eat anything. They watch the foodie disdainfully from across the room, wishing they wish they could even stomach the thought of a piece of bread. Common side effects include exclamations of, “How could you eat at a time like this?” and “I haven’t fit into these jeans since high school!”

The extrovert-  The extrovert can commonly found atop bar tables at happy hour, drunkenly professing their undying love to strangers. Have they kissed a good majority of people in the room? Probably. They also probably bought everyone a shot. Problem, what problem? There are no problems for the extrovert.

The Introvert- The introvert has got the whole setup in their living room. The popcorn is on the bar, the ice cream in hand, and they’re wrapped up like a little burrito of sadness on the couch. The introvert stares wistfully at the wall like in movies with dramatic stares into the distance. Seems legit.

While many other forms of grief goers exist, these seem to be the basic and fundamental categories of coping. No matter how you personally express pain, it is important that you acknowledge it so that you can move on to heal. When I returned from Europe, I binge watched two entire seasons of Gossip Girl on Netflix in just one week. At least I admit I have a problem. And now I can move on to bigger and better things...like a new series. I’m just kidding, nothing beats Gossip Girl.