One of life's greatest mysteries is humanity's ability to balance both good and bad circumstances...
One of life's greatest mysteries is humanity's ability to balance both good and bad circumstances. As much as we want a stress-free life and a life void of troubles, it won't always be that way and there are times we would have to face challenges and unfavorable situations. This is why you need these 7 positive coping skills anyone can use. When life becomes challenging and you are faced with stress from family, work, relationship, or identity crisis, you can learn to cope by talking to a counselor or a trusted friend, creating healthy boundaries, or spending time doing what you love. However, there's more. Read through this article to discover 7 positive coping skills anyone can use, the importance of learning the skills, and what happens when you don't learn to cope.
1. Figure out the problem: When you feel your mood go sullen or you find yourself lashing out at the people around you, there are usually more deeply rooted reasons for these reactions. Just like when a mother has a bad day at her office and her boss said some mean words to her. She might not be able to react to his words to avoid getting fired. But, there is every tendency that she will react to her husband or children angrily when she gets home. One of the ways to cope in this type of scenario is to either use the problem-focused skill or social-support skill. Instead of focusing on her children's scattered room or the loud music her husband is playing, she should look deeper at what had fouled her mood and come to recognize that it was the issue she had with her boss.
Then, she can speak with her husband about how it made her feel or call a friend and talk about the bad day she had. This also applies to other aspects of life. If you find out you are reacting in a way you don't usually do, first take a step back and figure out the root cause of the problem.
2. Create solutions: There are times when unexpected situations arise, instead of panicking and resorting to making bad decisions, take a deep breath, make sense of the situation, and create solutions. This might sometimes be hard to do depending on the problem but if you take out time to access the situation, you will find a way out. Just like when your grades drop or your boss complains about your work. Think about the cause of these problems and figure out what you can do to rectify the situation.
3. Fill your mind with nutrients: Just like your body, your mind also needs nutrients to be healthy. When you fill your mind with nutrients, it will become strong and will not break easily in bad times. You can fill your mind with nutrients by:
4. Writing or Journaling: Writing or Journaling is one of the most important yet underrated ways to cope with life's challenges. ' Writing things down gives you clarity, organizes your mind, and aids retrospection.
5. Seek social support: As much as being a loner has been sold as something beautiful in our generation, it will always be a problem. Humans are social beings and they will always need friends and families. When life gets overwhelming, seek solace with a trusted friend or partner. You can also join a group of like-minded people. This will give you comfort and foster your sense of belonging.
6. Engage in healthy activities: Find out what activity makes you feel relaxed and reduces your stress. Whenever you feel yourself at a breaking point, leave everything and resort to these activities. It will help keep your mind sane.
Activities like:
7. Don't resort to negative vices: When problems come, we usually tend to resort to vices like drugs, alcohol, anger, addiction, etc., however, these things do more harm to our lives and they only give a temporary high.However, if you find yourself doing these things uncontrollably, it is time to seek help from a certified therapist or counselor.
Why should you learn positive coping skills?
It is important to learn positive coping skills because you will definitely need them. This is not something for some specific people but for everybody. Everyone is faced with one challenge or the other in their daily life. And one of the challenges you can never evade is change. Change is unavoidable, whether it's positive or negative. Negative changes can be; losing a loved one, getting fired from a job, health problems, debt, grades dropping or getting expelled from school, a broken relationship, and many more. Positive changes can be; Getting married, moving from one country to another, getting promoted at work, having a child, etc. Both positive and negative changes can affect one's life because it means pushing yourself beyond what you used to know, learning, and doing new things. Even the positive ones can sometimes get overwhelming and you would wonder if it really is a blessing.
This is why it is important that you learn how to cope with any form of change in your life. When you learn positive coping skills, you will know how to handle situations when they become unbearable for you. You will have a form of escape. The truth is whether you learn or not, your mind is already conditioned to find an escape when situations become unbearable. The sad truth is your mind will mostly pivot to negative forms of escape or negative coping skills, especially if you have not learned positive coping skills. Learning positive coping skills will help you determine the right response to give to a situation under any circumstances. It will make you psychologically strong and you won't have to resort to lashing out or pushing others away because you don't want to face the situation.
Coping with situations can sometimes be difficult for most people; some more than others. However, there are strategies you can implore to help you cope with difficult situations.
They are:
When you don't learn coping skills, you are bound to get easily affected by every change in your life. Coping skills help you to deal with stressful situations and help you develop physical and psychological strength; but if you don't learn these skills, you will find yourself breaking down in every overwhelming situation. This is called maladaptive coping. You might also find out that there is an imbalance in your life. You will find yourself focusing on one aspect of your life than the other. You will also find yourself resorting to bad habits or vices. This is why it is important to take the 7 positive coping skills anyone can use seriously.
Coping can be one of the most challenging things to do in life but it is also one of the most important. If after reading these 7 positive coping skills anyone can use, you still find yourself struggling to cope with the circumstances around you, then it is time to seek help. Get help from a support group of like-minded people. Talk to someone about how you feel. Do not feel the need to act like you have it all together when you are struggling mentally, seek a trusted mental health professional and find a safe space to pour out your emotions. You can also reach out to coping skills therapists and counselors in Colorado at Overcomers Counseling.
https://www.amazon.com/Power-Habit-What-Life-Business/dp/081298160X
https://www.amazon.com/How-Mind-Works-Steven-Pinker/dp/1491514965
https://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Perennial-Classics/dp/0061339202
https://avidinspire.com/2022/05/03/5-powerful-benefits-of-writing-things-down/
https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/coping-mechanisms
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor, and owner of Overcomers Counseling. I'm dedicated to helping individuals find strength and healing through life’s challenges. With a deep understanding of mental health and years of professional experience, I specialize in fostering hope and resilience while equipping her clients with tools to thrive. Passionate about empowering others, she creates a safe, supportive space where everyone feels seen, valued, and capable of overcoming obstacles on their path to well-being.
Life coaching for careers can address a variety of areas, such as career transition, job search strategies, skill development, leadership development, work-life balance, and stress management, to name a few.
This will depend on your individual needs but it's generally recommended that clients meet with their coach at least once per week for maximum effectiveness.
Solution-focused coping, also known as problem-focused coping, involves taking direct action to address the cause of the stressful situation. This can include identifying the problem, brainstorming possible solutions, and implementing a plan of action.
Career counseling focuses on assessing an individual's skills, interests, and personality to help them make informed career decisions.
Life coaching, on the other hand, focuses on helping individuals achieve their career goals and aspirations through goal setting, action planning, and ongoing support.
Yes, experiencing intense emotions is a normal part of life, but it's essential to develop effective coping strategies to manage these feelings when they arise.
Not necessarily. A life coach can help you identify and clarify your career aspirations if you are unsure of what you want to achieve in your career. They can also help you explore different options and develop an action plan for moving forward
