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How to Stop Coping and Start Living

Tricia Parido – Emotional Performance Strategist | June 29, 2025

Person standing at the edge of a bridge, looking out toward a bright, open path—symbolizing the shift from coping to living fully.
"Stop bracing. Start becoming." TP
"You’re not lazy. You’re exhausted. You’re not stuck. You’re over-coping. And you’re not broken—you’ve just been using all the wrong tools to survive."

Let’s get brutally honest: Coping isn’t living.


Coping is survival. It’s managing. It’s patching the leak instead of repairing the foundation. It’s the difference between white-knuckling your way through the week and actually feeling alive in your own life.


You’ve built a lifestyle around bracing for impact. Always waiting for the next hit. Always managing someone else’s chaos. Always one breath away from burnout. 

And you’ve called that strength.


But what if you’re not thriving because you never learned how to live without a crisis?


🚫 Coping Is Not the Goal

Listen, I teach coping strategies. I teach emotional regulation. But if you’re still stuck there after all this time, we have a bigger problem.


Coping is a bridge, not a destination.


It’s there to get you out of the fire. But you weren’t meant to pitch a tent and live on the bridge.


Most people I work with think that coping is healing. It’s not. It’s a temporary stabilization strategy. 


Here’s how you know you’re stuck in it:

  • You say “I’m fine,” but feel numb or panicked.

  • You constantly over-prepare, overthink, and over-give.

  • You rely on coffee to wake up and wine to wind down.

  • You feel “good” only when everyone else is okay.


If that’s you… This isn’t a judgment. It’s a redirection.


💥 What Happens When Coping Becomes Identity

Coping can feel empowering at first. You learn a few tools, stop reacting as much, and get through the day with fewer breakdowns. Amazing.


But here’s where it gets dangerous:

You start to identify with the struggle.

You wear your survival like a badge.

You begin to believe that “doing better” just means suffering more quietly.

That if you’re not crying or spiraling, you’re “winning.”


No.

You’re just emotionally suppressing with better posture.


Let’s upgrade that strategy. Because your nervous system doesn’t just want calm—it wants connection, expression, living.


🧠 The Psychology of Real Living

Real living means feeling.It means presence.It means not micromanaging your emotions or the people around you to feel safe.


Here’s the hard truth wrapped in love:

You cannot live your full life while staying emotionally braced all the time.


Performance psychology teaches us this:

You’ll never hit peak performance—or inner peace—by trying to control everything.


You need to learn how to respond, not react.And that means pausing long enough to ask:

  • “What am I actually feeling?”

  • “What do I need that I’m not giving myself?”

  • “What am I avoiding in the name of coping?”


If this sounds foreign, don’t panic. I’ve built my entire Emotional Agility system to help you reclaim those lost parts of you.


🛑 Stop Coping. Start Living.

Starting today, I want you to stop managing your emotions like a problem to fix.

Instead, let’s create an emotional lifestyle where you feel safe enough to exist without bracing.


Here’s where you begin:

  1. Run a Coping Audit. What behaviors are keeping you from actual change?

  2. Use the Core Feeling Check-In. “Right here, right now, in this moment I feel ___.” “Is this emotion for me or from something outside of me?”

  3. Break the autopilot loop. You don’t need another escape. You need awareness.

  4. Start your Live for Yourself First journey. Because real life starts when coping ends.


👊 This Isn’t About Motivation — It’s About Activation

You don’t need a pep talk. You need a plan.And I’ve got one.


Inside the Total Emotional Performance system, I teach you exactly how to:

  • Recognize your coping defaults

  • Build emotional agility from the inside out

  • Finally feel like you’re in charge of your day, your energy, your relationships


This isn’t fluffy feel-good advice. It’s strategic, real-world support.

And it starts with a decision: Are you done coping yet?

Because living is waiting on the other side.


🔗 Ready to move beyond just getting through the day?

Start your Live for Yourself First program now (better yet, grab a free consult) 

→ Explore your emotional freedom

Or join me inside the app for free and take the Coping Audit challenge 

→ Download the Total Emotional Performance App


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