So far...

[Clueless Morgan]

I guess I miss the sense of security which comes from believing there is a Plan. Praying for me was a bit like fight club. When it was over, nothing was resolved, but the problems seemed smaller.

If prayer was a coping mechanism you used to make your problems seem more manageable (by making them seem smaller), it sounds like you need to find a new coping mechanism.

I don't know that I have any good suggestions, but when I'm faced with a big problem, or something that seems huge and insurmountable, I make lists and other visual aids to make the problem seem smaller by breaking it into component parts that are all a manageable size or are less daunting. The list itself can be intimidating (depending on how it's set up), but once things start getting crossed off I get a feeling of accomplishment and my confidence in getting the whole list completed goes up.

You might not be a list guy, you might be a meditation guy (if prayer worked for you, meditation might be a good alternative), or an exercise guy, or some other mechanism, but find the one that best suits you, or try out a couple.

I guess the only comfort now is that you can proactively fix your own problems and know they'll actually be solved. Not quite as comforting in the midst of the problem, but more rewarding when you can take the credit for fixing it in the end

I don't want to speak for Jacob, but it seems like what he's saying is that he misses the comfort of having "someone else" to share his problems with and that sharing his problems with someone else helped make them feel less overwhelming.

Maybe that's a good place to start looking for a new mechanism, Jabob: talk your problems through, either to yourself or to someone else. Maybe just thinking them through is enough to reduce their magnitude to manageable levels.