Ironically I deal with things 99% of the time by making jokes about them. I am happy & upbeat. I sing in the car and strike up conversations with strangers. I am well liked by people who don't know me, lol. Everyone in town sees me coming and smiles and waves from cashiers/clerks to librarians etc. I laugh to stay sane, lol - finding happiness in life has been my goal since I was a kid. "What's the silver lining" was like my mantra. I've been chastised by previous therapists for wearing rose-colored-glasses and being too optimistic. (Which I felt was unfair bc everyone has a coping mechanism and I think that mine is less destructive than most, lol)
When something crappy happens I don't dwell on it, or want to chew on it for weeks. And these same friends I've known since high school don't know 1/10 of the stuff that's happened to me, lol. I only share stuff that a reasonable person could be expected to grasp. No one but my therapist knows my 1st husband tried to kill me when I was pregnant, etc. But my friends from high school know my mom hated me, bc they saw it every day. & they knew I got divorced when I was pregnant, and had no help or support. They just didn't know about the stalking and constant threats for years afterward. And so on. I don't go to my friends over every horrid thing that happens to me, and have never done so. We'd have nothing else to talk about, lol! I enjoy talking to people about other things - I listen to their lives, we talk about current events, and pets, and the weather, and as long as we're talking about them, or something we have in common, it's fine - we talk and laugh and have an enjoyable time. And that's the vast majority of our conversations. But if it's about me, there's simply no conversation.