Happy Sunday! Today I want to share an updated list of coping skills. While I have yet to try them all, the ones I’ve tried have been beneficial to my mental health. My hope is that you can take a few (or all) of these and implement them into your life as needed.
Coping Skills for Self-harm
- Pop rubber bands on wrists
- Use punching bag or pillow
- Draw on old scars or unharmed skin
- Scribble on paper
- Paint/color
- Scream into a pillow
- Rip paper or tissue
- Squeeze something
- Play rain sounds
- Distract yourself with videos
- Write out feelings
- Cuddle with pillows or stuffed animals
- Make and read a list of reasons not to cut
- Breathe
Coping Skills for Depression
- Write/journal
- Do yoga
- Read
- Talk to someone from support system
- Light candles
- Take a bath and/or shower
- Color/paint
- Listen to music
- Listen to podcasts
- Go for a walk
- Watch Netflix or YouTube
- Guided imagery
- Meditation
Coping Skills for Mania
- Dance
- Get creative
- Write
- Color/paint
- Do yoga
- Go for a walk
- Talk to someone
Coping Skills for Anxiety
- Visualization: Picture yourself at a place where you feel safe and comfortable
- Pause to examine evidence, pause to examine your thoughts and challenge them.
- Bring a cheat sheet: Before going out into anxiety inducing environments, anticipate what anxious thoughts you will have and challenge them on paper or phone. Bring it with you.
- Remind yourself: Anticipation is worse than reality.
- Muscle relaxation exercise: Tense muscles for 5 seconds, relax.
- Create goals: Create simple, small goals.
- Keep a rational outlook: When out, imagine other times you were in social settings and did fine.
- Breathe
- Do yoga
- Practice meditation
- Spend time in nature
Take care!
Photo by Blake Richard Verdoorn on Unsplash
