[INFJ] How do you cope under difficult emotions or stress?

I daydream, procrastinate or just shut down. Not really healthy I know but I don't know any other way. I'm not sure if I've ever dealt with negative emotions in a healthy way. A counsellor once told me that if you equate mental health to physical health, I was never vaccinated as I should have been when I was young. I think she meant I never learned the 'normal' coping skills.

I think I've spent so long daydreaming that if I hear bad news (grades, money etc.) it doesn't really affect me. It's like I know that I can retreat into the daydreams or that I can just pretend I'm someone else. If my life goes wrong (or right), it's like it's not my real life, certainly not the one I've spent the most time on. Unfortunately now I can't concentrate, it's like a tv is always on in the background and I can't resist watching it. Or it's just better than what I'm really doing.

With difficult emotions I try to bury them but for that I need to be by myself and stay in my room when that happens. With stress, I just accept it. I've felt stressed for years so it's almost like I'm immune. Or I'm feeling someone else's stress. Eventually it passes. My methods aren't the best but they do work; I don't really panic anymore when I'm stressed. I've experienced the "oh no the world's ending" kind of stress too often, now I just remember that it never ends as bad as I fear.

Edit: I found the gif that sums me up in tricky situations. I may complain but afterwards I joke.
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/oat.gif
 
Last edited:
I have become very ill previously through stress but honestly it was an exceptional set of circumstances so I am not too hard on myself when recollecting what happened. The perfect people turned up and helped me and for that I am grateful. For me the recollection aspect is the worst. I can be far too hard on myself. I have since learned a spiritual practice to calm my mind and transmute any dark energy. I think my previous illness was a build up of this dark energy.

Things will usually reach a pitch. If I get very upset an escape route will appear. I am convinced it is a form of karmic energy which balances things out. It has kind off always been present in my life.

I am making an escape route right now from my job. I know the time is right because the right people have turned up. So, I guess I focus on the truth of the matter, quiet my mind and listen to my intuition. I believe the answers come to us when we listen. I don't let others muddy me and forgive them of any trespasses on my aura and make sure I don't trespass theirs with negativity. I will however follow legal channels and prosecute if necessary and have done so and won in the past.
 
Stress doesn't usually affect me but when it does I get a bit neurotic. I feel like I'm losing control of my life. I imagine things that aren't based in fact, I become obsessive over unimportant details, I become self-critical to the point of not wanting to leave home in fear that others will see what a complete failure I am. I withdraw from the world around me. I become agitated with everything, especially anything or one that interrupts what is going on inside my head. I will eventually talk my way out of it but if I'm not given this time alone to pull myself back into reality, I will go into hiding. I disappear with no way to be contacted until I'm in a good frame of mind.
 
As a youth I almost did it better, or at least it felt better.. I used to put absolutely no focus on my own emotions.. I lived for others enjoyment, because I couldn't find my own peace.

Now that I have reclaimed my emotions, I'm reconciling emotions, against the world, against everything.

I know it is important to feel them through.. so that they don't become actions.

I wouldn't recommend controlling emotions, just accepting them, understanding they have their purpose and putting thought in to understand what.

For stress I'm at a loss, usually I watch imaginative movies, with some kind of mystery or surprise, this way I'm not focusing on what is not working but instead coming to understand that there is potential for other possibilities.

Oh I love to laugh and act completely goofy with a trusted friend, (one who doesnt judge), because I'm actually very serious and it can be daunting.

Other than that I'd SURE like to learn some stress techniques..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top