Teens struggle with different types of mental illnesses every day. A lot of them do not quite know how to cope with it and have really bad habits. According to an Instagram poll, about 65% of the Rocky students who responded answered that have depression or anxiety; about 63% of those kids have bad coping mechanisms. Those could include drinking, smoking, cutting, breakdowns, hyperventilating, continuously binge eating, and overworking their bodies with physical workouts. Students that do these things can end up hurting themselves in the long run. Teens need to know that there are some good coping mechanisms out there for the people that are doing those things, and hopefully it can help turn their lives around.   

One great way to cope in a good way is using art, whether that is drawing, painting, making jewelry, or even just coloring in a coloring book. Art is a great way to express yourself and your feelings. If there are any negative emotions or you are anxious about something or is something going on in your life that makes you upset; throw it onto a piece of paper or canvas or jewelry. Once you put all those things on paper, they end up feeling almost lifted off your shoulders and onto something else.  Another good way to cope with depression or anxiety using an artform would be music. That could be writing music, playing music, or just listening to music where the lyrics relate to you or speak to you. Writing music or playing an instrument is another great way to express yourself because song lyrics can say the things that you physically cannot. Same thing with other people’s music, when an artists song shows they are going through the same things that you are currently going through it can show that you’re not really alone in your situation.  

Art is not the only way to cope though, sometimes driving really helps clear people’s minds because it gets them to think about and focus on something else. Another great thing that helps people’s mental health is working out. Working out can make you feel better about the way you look and mentally you will feel like you accomplished something. One more thing you could try is meditation, it helps find your spiritual self and a self-awakening that can help you feel more at peace.  

In conclusion instead of doing drugs, drinking or self-harm there are many alternatives to cope with depression or anxiety. Try an art form or working out, meditation and even just breathing exercises could help cope with these things.