Coping is how we adjust to stress in order to make the situation bearable. But when a coping mechanism (healthy or unhealthy) becomes a habit, we've missing the message that the situation and resulting emotion is trying to teach us. And when we try to cope our way through we don't make our way through. Just like physical pain, emotional pain is telling us to adjust something. To let go of something, to set a healthy boundary, to speak up, or to show up in a new way...