As we grow up there are a litany of skills we are taught in school, and, depending on our home life, another set of skills we are taught at home. Unlike banking or paying taxes or organizing bills, nothing in our lives as young adults forces us to learn this skill as a natural part of adulthood. In fact, we are generally unaware that it is important at all, even though our inability to do it disrupts our lives on a daily basis. This skill is the conscious processing of emotion. I grew up with a notion, maybe you did too, that people with emotional problems or addictions can't cope with life. When I was buried in panic and alcohol, my "inability to cope with life" was not an actionable thing to improve. I would ask "How can I cope with life better?" The answers were vague and unhelpful, "suck it up." From inside a broken brain and life, I had to figure out what it was that I couldn't cope with. It turned out that it was "feelings." Fe
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