How do you cope?

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

<p>With bad news? With realizing that people that you deeply care about are in a loaded mess?</p>

<p>I really want to cry right now, and if you've been to the "I can't cry" thread (or whatever it's called), you'd see that I'm one of those people who really doesn't cry, but right now, the tears are about to break.</p>

<p>I just found out that my two cousins are in massive trouble. They've both been in trouble before. One went to juvie for a few months. Well, now, they're in even bigger trouble. They've been accused of causing 100's of thousands of dollars of damages on government/private housing, by stripping out copper wire and selling it. And then they burglarized a whole bunch of houses in their neighborhood and have stolen thousands of goods.</p>

<p>So it looks like one cousin will be going to juvie (he's 16) and the other will likely get as many as 10 years in jail (he's 18).</p>

<p>I care about them so much and it really hurts me to see how their lives have turned out compared to mine... and I just don't know how to cope with that.</p>

<p>And I can't help but feeling like it's somewhat my fault. My older cousin (the 18yo) came back to live here and his mom did make him go to school, but he wasn't old enough to drop out. And since he had just moved here, he fell between the cracks and I really wanted to alert his school district that he wasn't going to school, but he was supposed to... but I never did. And so he stayed dropped out and got into more trouble. And I feel like if he had spent that time in school, he probably wouldn't have had as much time to get into trouble...</p>

<p>Agh. I just feel sick that they're both in this mess. =(</p>

2

<p>That’s great that you care so much about your cousins. As for me, I have almost no ounce of feeling for mine. Probably because they live on the other side of the world and I haven’t seen them in 8 years.</p>

<p>You should listen to music, or eat something you like.</p>

3

<p>First of all, it’s not your fault that your cousins are in trouble. It’s their fault because ** they ** committed the crime. You didn’t help them in any way.</p>

<p>Now that we have that out of the way, I know how you feel. One of my friends…Well let’s just say she’s not doing so well…Suicidally not well…And I have no idea what to say to her. My life is paradise compared to hers, and I feel so bad when I compare our situations; I don’t feel like I deserve this. </p>

<p>Anyway, we have to realize that their situation isn’t in our control, and that beyond talking to them, we can’t really do anything. There’s no point in sullenly mulling over the past, because what’s done is done. We have to know that life moves on, and that eventually their situation will be resolved. So, like HeWhoPwnz said, listen to music, or eat something you like. Basically, normalize your life. If you don’t, you’ll never be able to deal with the pain; there’s just too much guilt and too much worry.</p>

4

<p>Video games ease the pain</p>

5

<p>How do I cope?</p>

<p>I show no emotion towards it.</p>

6

<p>It’s great to know that you care about your cousins so much, but I think that you may have to distance yourself from them, especially in the long run. Right now, go run, punch a pillow, scream at a wall. Do something get your mind off of your cousins.</p>