Do you ever find that the skills you have for coping with everyday stress are not serving you as well as they could? If you suffer from depression, anxiety or trauma, it’s possible that the coping skills you learned growing up could be updated. I know my coping skills for a long time consisted of considering suicide, leaving the area, or crying. These were my go-to behaviors when I was really stressed out, and I found that they weren’t serving me very well. My therapist recommended some other options, but I would forget what I should do in times of stress. So I made a list of coping skills to help me remember.
We are all given a deck of cards to play in life that are our coping skills, and we can stack the deck in our favor in order to better deal with all the stresses life hands out. So, a fun project is to actually create a deck of cards, each with a different coping skill on it, to be used in times of stress to remind ourselves that there are more ways to handle stresses than what we learned as children. I decorated my cards with markers and made them look as cute and inviting as I could, and I use this deck when I’m feeling overwhelmed. Getting out the markers and flash cards was reminiscent of childhood, and coloring the cards with different designs was really soothing. Now when I’m stressed out, I go draw a card and do the activity that is written down. If I draw a card that doesn’t feel right for the time, I just shuffle it back in and draw again. All you need to create your own deck are some index cards and markers, colored pencils or crayons. Get into it and really personalize your deck. You’ll be more likely to use the behaviors if you choose them. Here are some examples of coping skills you might want to add to your deck. Take a walk, Take three deep breaths, curl up in a blanket and watch your favorite show, listen to music to change your mood, or take a nap. Make sure your coping skills really help you to feel better.