Everyone copes with bad feelings, Charlene included: bad feelings from relationships, from family, from her colleagues and supervisor. None of them directly affected her, except the break-ups. Work was okay enough. No, it was when a movie ended badly (poorly written.) Feeling angry, jealous, depressed. Charlene had relationships full of eventual bad feelings, though they started with promise.
Charlene spent time with a therapist, who prescribed drugs. The drugs had side effects, she kept getting different ones until one was found which had her smiling. It was a vacant smile.
Bad feelings, Charlene was told, often fade, over time. How long did she have to wait? She knew the meds created their own bad feelings so she stopped them, her mind cleared, leaving her more depressed. Her limited solutions were going nowhere fast. And she had bad feelings about medicating her bad feelings.
The bad feelings came from her relations with people.
Charlene moved to a cabin in the woods.
There were no people for twenty miles. Charlene settled into the cabin, already feeling better. She walked outside, to enjoy the lovely sun, when she saw an approaching mother bear and her cub. Charlene fled inside, closing the door. She had to wait until they left. Then she heard noises in the ceiling and the lights went out. Squirrels. When a bird looked at her through the window, Charlene yearned for its freedom, except of course there were hawks.
Charlene returned to her apartment in the city. At least there were no wild animals there except people, and they had no claws. She felt better. At least she had done something. She found good feelings in memories, and grew happier, because this tale should end with good feelings.