Let’s speak about Coping Skills

Theodora’s Take on Coping Skills:

As a person who has been in therapy myself and also is a practicing therapist, I recognize that sometimes it is hard to get into a pattern of using coping skills that are new and unfamiliar. I believe one of the most important parts of adding in a coping skill is seeing the benefit. For example, how does doing X skill help me and what will change in my life if I incorporate this new skill.

Coping skills also have to make sense for you. They also can be customized and altered to a certain extent to meet you where you are in this moment. Therapy and healing are not a one size fits all approach and although all of the skills that I provide in session are evidenced based, that doesn’t mean we cannot take your knowledge of self and make it something that really works for you and your lifestyle.

Some of my favorite coping skills are:

Deep Breathing – this helps calm down the fight or flight response and get you back into your window of tolerance (where you are most able to tolerate stress). You can practice square breathing, 4 second inhale a 4 second pause and a 4 second exhale 2-3 times.

Make sure to note how you are feeling before and after.

Let’s speak about gratitude:

Incorporating Gratitude Practice into your day either when you wake up or go to sleep. Identify three things that went well that day and three things that you did well or feel proud of. This helps shifts perspective and challenges you to see the good and also gives you space to acknowledge your strengths and accomplishments.

Make sure to create time for your hobbies and interests:

Life is full of stress, when it comes to work, school, and day to day responsibilities. Carving out as much time for you as possible each day will help create balance and find joy which helps immensely with anxiety and depression. If you were to schedule a power hour each day for yourself what would that look like? What would you do with that time?

Other Ideas:

Pick one coping skill that you are open to trying for 1 week and keep a log on how your day may feel different or maybe your internal world starts to feel different. It takes time to incorporate coping skills into your routine, but once you find ones that work for you the benefit will increase motivation to keep on using positive skills.