Short Story: Coping strategies

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John Jones was having coping problems with the intricacies of his life. His counsellor had given him certain coping strategies, but none of these were working for him. One was to take just one day at a time. Plan no further than this, and to try to get the most out of each day, for what it was. John's counsellor, had also taught John to meditate, so as to remove him from being immersed too deeply in his everyday problems too. His counsellor had even created an exercise schedule, and linked him up with a personal trainer, and a dietitian too, to try to get his health up to par, as well. Seemingly, he had left no base, unmanned. This counsellor had gotten him a good job too, in an area where John had told him that he was interested to work in. He had provided John with a foot into his own industry, and John was now studying counselling, while also manning a telephone counselling consulting role as well. But none of this brought John to what he really wanted in his life. They were all just add-ons, colourful additions, distractions, coping strategies, and none of them satisfied him. John was still missing something that he considered to be vital for him to be connected to in his life. John needed death to visit him to show him what life was really all about, and when death came close to him, in the death of his beloved mother, John went completely to pieces. He was afraid of death. It had seemingly carried his mother to an unknowable place. But, later when his mother tried to contact him from that place, John thought that he was just going mad from the grief, and so he ignored these messages. Then one day, his mother was talking to him as he slept, and in a dream, and she simply said to him, that life meets death when death meets life, and so allowing death to be what it is in your life, allows life to be what it is too. Just live for life, and let death take care of its own duties for you, do not try to interfere in death too much, just go on living your life, in the best way you can do so. John felt a whole lot better after that, and coped better with his life, because of this input of real truth, which was not just a coping strategy. Problems need to be addressed at their grassroots level, not just trimmed at their extremities. Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com John's old mother even helped him after her death.