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Some healthy ways for people to 'vent' and cope
It’s no secret that everyone has been struggling, and not just with the pandemic but also with a lot of deep personal issues. If you can relate, then keep reading for some helpful advice.
Before getting into the actual ways of venting and coping, it's important to understand why individuals need to vent and cope, even if they might think “it's not a big deal” or “I can handle it on my own." It doesn't matter if that’s true or not. There is no shame, nor is there any harm, in letting out a little frustration or passionate feelings. Big or small, it is vital for a person's mental and physical health to be properly cared for. “Venting is a 2-way process: the person venting and the person hearing the vent. As a matter of fact, positive venting can reduce stress, but negative venting can lead to heightened stress and physical health concerns.” (from "The Psychology of Venting")
Now, it's understandable that not many people feel comfortable or can easily open up to someone about what they’re going through. Considering this, venting doesn't necessarily mean talking about it to someone. Although talking it out can in fact be liberating (even if it's hard), there are other, equally liberating ways to vent and in turn cope with hard times.
Art: There are countless people who choose to express their innermost frustrations by either flying a brush or pencil across a canvas, putting their heart and soul into sculpting or putting together some other type of masterpiece. Some of the greatest artworks in the world have been made while that artist was going through dark times such as Edvard Munch's The Scream and Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night. (from "4 Artists Who Suffered From Mental Illnesses") It doesn't even matter if you’re good at art or not, it makes zero difference, it's all about expression!
Writing: Speaking of expression, writing is one of the simplest yet most effective ways of emotional expression. Oftentimes people have trouble verbally communicating their feelings, thinking about how something always sounds better in their head, but it can be properly expressed through words. One of the beauties of writing is that none of it has to be organized or necessarily makes sense. It's a complete copy of what you feel inside, and as most know, emotions tend to be messy and chaotic, so it's totally okay! This would probably be the most comfortable way too, since you're not talking to anyone and you can write things you’d probably never say out loud. Sylvia Plath is a famous author who made an equally famous novel titled The Bell Jar. She was able to thoroughly express all her emotions and experiences and in the end made a compelling and relatable read. Except you don't have to publish your work. Some things a lot of people do is burn whatever they wrote when they're finished.
Dance: It may seem odd to some people, but dance is definitely a way of emotional expression. Just like how you can tell if someone is angry or happy, it’s all about the body language and the intricate, detailed movements of one's body such as tells or frequent patterns. This can also flow into the category of art. It also gives a great work out to your body--all that moving can either be relaxing or a complete adrenaline rush, it just depends on the person and what they’re feeling. A little more curious as to what types of expressive dances are out there? Check out this chilling video of two very talented expressive dancers: "Freckled Sky."
Physical Activity: One of the most common forms of working out frustration is to actually work out, which also comes in many forms. It is not all about lifting weights or push-ups. Simple jogs around the block or regular stretches can help ease or clear the mind, or maybe swimming and bicycling. If extreme sports aren't your thing, then one could be open to the idea of yoga as well. It is both challenging (flexibility wise--but of course you don't have to go far) and simple (because intensity is not required). One could also take up the hobby of boxing or maybe even karate! The possibilities are endless. Simple work out videos: Yoga, Karate for Beginners, Basic Workout, Running.
Remember, the idea isn't to be good at any of these; it’s all about you and your expression! However, the more you do these things, the better you get. Venting isn't all about letting the emotions out either. It’s about hopefully coming to some sort of level ground with yourself in order to prevail from the issue at hand. It can either distract you or give you a moment of clarity to help overcome the problem. Whatever the problem may be and however long it takes, the important thing is that you're allowing yourself to feel these things and you’re wanting to get better. You feel it, you vent it, and you cope with it.
Making your world a better place
You, yes you the one reading this--who's the most important person in the world? If you answered anything besides yourself then you're wrong. You are the most important person in the world; you are what makes the world a better place.
Sometimes living positively is one of the hardest things to achieve because it's next to impossible to look away from negativity or get out of bad situations, but the most trivial things can help you improve your way of life. Let's take, for example, making your bed. Making your bed is such a simple task that even younger children can do it easily. But why would you want to make your bed? Well, starting your morning off by doing the most trivial task can greatly help and I'll explain why.
If you make your bed first thing in the morning then you have successfully completed a task without really having to try, then you finish getting ready for the day and you'll be more motivated to complete other silly tasks, which could in return make you feel better about yourself simply because you did something.
See? The key to happiness isn't money and it isn't other people--it isn't anything but yourself. You are the only one in this world that can make yourself happy. Yes, others may bring joy to your life or make you feel happy, but without happiness within yourself you'll never truly be happy. It's difficult to find what makes you happy and what brings you joy, but it is manageable.
I would highly recommend meditation and reading. To some it sounds dumb, but sometimes distracting the mind is the best thing to do. If you're the type of person who wants to be in your mind and find out things within your mind that you didn't know, then mediation is the route for you. Truly the hardest thing about improving your own mental health and happiness is that no one can do it for you. They can only give you things that may help or guide you to something to help.
It's very important to remember that we are our biggest enemies. We have to better ourselves, which can be done with help but even with that help if you don't work towards it then you'll never get better. I would like to share a quote with you, “Beware of no man more than yourself; we carry our worst enemies with us.” by Charles Spurgeon. I personally love this quote because it's true; we critique ourselves more than others, we doubt ourselves more than others and we fear things about ourselves that others don't.
It's very hard to be more positive, but it's not impossible. It takes a lot of patience and drive, plenty of focus and trust in yourself that things will get better. I'd like to share something that my grandfather taught me, which was to never say I can't. By telling yourself you can't do something, you'll never be able to because you believe you can't. Even if you are not capable of doing it now, tell yourself you can, and constantly do that, it's so simple but it truly makes a difference.
By telling yourself you can do something, and believing in yourself, you can accomplish anything, which if you think about it is the point of bettering yourself mentally. If you tell yourself you can and you do that every single day, then within time it will become your reality. I think the biggest struggle people have when it comes to staying positive is when things go wrong and keep going wrong we tend to lose faith in ourselves, but by simply reminding ourselves we can do it makes a difference.
The hardest part about leading a more positive life is that it's not easy, it is one of the hardest things to accomplish but if we dont believe in ourselves then we will never be able to. The key to being happy isn't anything in the world, it isn't anyone else in the world, it simply starts with you. Now some things to help would be setting little goals, like to remember to take the trash out on a certain day, once again a simple task but by accomplishing that it makes us feel better that we just get into the routine of it, the same thing can be applied with happiness. You try your best every day to be happy and try your hardest to eliminate unnecessary stress and eventually, you'll be where you want to be. The only thing standing in your way of being happy is you.
Understanding lack of motivation
By Rylee Cardin
Motivation. How would you define this term in your own words? Google defines it as “the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way." The Cambridge dictionary defines it as “enthusiasm for doing something." It has a different meaning to each person. To one person, motivation could mean working out to get a certain body type they want. To another person, it could mean doing all their work to keep their grades up. A loss or lack of motivation in teens is often symptomatic of far greater issues, such as a lack of self-confidence, a lack of esteem, and so forth.
Lack of motivation can be rough for a lot of people, especially teens. Right now is a stressful time for people due to the psychological effects of the Coronavirus pandemic. How kids feel about school affects how they learn. Motivation and their mindset matter hugely when it comes to a teens’ performance on tests. Jenny Anderson says, “It should be alarming that way too many kids lose interest in school as they get older.”
Growing up, teens start to lose interest in school making their motivation go down, leading to their grades dropping. Lack of motivation, or avolition, is common in teens right now. Avolition is a term used to describe a severe lack of initiative to accomplish purposeful tasks. Some examples of avolition are ignoring texts, calls, and/or emails, failing to deal with everyday responsibilities, and/or grades dropping significantly.
Avolition can diminish your drive to participate in social activities and meet goals as well as your ability to complete daily tasks, causing a strain on your family, social, and work life. Since many people can mistake this characteristic for being “lazy” or “irresponsible," it can have an adverse impact on your relationships with other people.
Another term for this is apathy. Apathy is when you lack motivation to do anything or just don't care about what's going on around you. Avolition differs from apathy, however. People with apathy will be more likely to alter their behaviors if there is a real threat of consequences. People with avolition will more likely not. People often mistake apathy for depression, and vice versa. Apathy may be a symptom of depression, though apathy in itself is distinct, as apathetic people do not typically display symptoms of prolonged low mood and hopelessness.
Types of lack of motivation :
Avolition - severe lack of initiative to accomplish purposeful tasks.
Apathy - when you lack motivation to do anything or just don’t care about what’s going on around you.
Aboulia - the lack of will rather than motivation, a subtle difference but one which may be defined as a more severe form of apathy.
Anhedonia - is the inability to feel pleasure, the symptom of which can lead to a lack of motivation.
Asociality - lack of motivation in relationships and social interactions