Coping Skills
Feb. 26th, 2021 03:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fuzzyredAs one of my new year's goals, I decided to work on my Emotional Awareness and my ability to handle/recognize them in myself, as well as some general all-purpose self-improvement. Since this is a HUUUUUUGE category, and I feel I have a lot to work on, January's goal was to make a plan for the year, choosing one topic to work on a month and writing down a few easy first steps for improving the chosen skill. It was tricky prioritizing them, since I think they are all important, but I know better than to try to work on everything at once, so I did the best I could. I'm also not sure I have the best steps in place for improving them, so if anyone has pointers, those would be much appreciated.
February: Coping Skills
Find a list of coping skills - done
Cross off all the no-goes - done
Choose three to try during the month - I haven't really done this, but I have a few in mind that I want to try, and I've been more aware of when to use my coping skills and having using some of my existing ones.
Try to group coping skills with the emotions they'd help - mostly done
March: Professional Care
Make a list of things I'd want to get out of therapy, and see how many -if any- I could do myself.
Look into health coverage and local options.
Check out the online options mentioned by a friend.
April: Relationships
Decide who I want as close friends; people I have a deeper relationship with than just and occasional "Hi."
Make an effort to message those people between one and three days a week.
Decide who you'd like to keep as acquaintances and try to message them twice a month or so.
May: Taking Time to Relax
Choose two days to have no obligations, no chores, nothing to do.
Set aside one or two days where I can read all day.
Pick one day to do something fun and whimsical.
June: Boundaries
Choose four days and declare them "personal days;" no social engagements.
Find a list of healthy boundaries and a guide on how to set them.
Set at least three boundaries to stick to.
July: Self-Care
Find a list of self-care ideas.
Pick five that sound the most doable/fun/relaxing.
Cross off anything that sounds the opposite of helpful.
Try the ones I picked.
August: Process Emotions
Write down things I am unhappy about/that are giving me a hard time.
Identify things I can change and things I can't.
Work on processing and letting go of the unchangeable things.
*Reminder: It's okay to cry during this process.
Possibly involve a professional, if I've chosen one to seek out?
September: Emotional Awareness
Find a list of basic/intermediate emotions. (Check your own earlier posts because there are probably a feel emotion wheels hanging around.)
Find exercises that help identify these emotions (in self and in others.)
Pick three to five to work on identifying in myself and keep track of how I react when I feel those things.
October: Self-Esteem
Pick three good things about myself.
Write them down and put them somewhere I will see them often.
Don't call myself names or say disparaging things. Try to find a more positive phrasing.
Work on not downplaying praise.
November: Self-Awareness
Find a list of questions (possibly the setysabetwordsmith is using).
Answer one a day.
Write down three things you want to do in the next year.
Think about what you want out of the next five years.
December: Self-Expression
Goal: Putting feelings on the page or otherwise letting them out
Methods to try: writing in a journal daily for one week, making art, poetry, expressive coping skills
Possibly look up ways of expressing yourself for more ideas.
February's goal was coping skills and the first thing I did was make a hard copy of this list of 99 Coping Skills that I got courtesy ofysabetwordsmith. Not all of them are necessarily things that will work for me, but it gave me a good starting point and some new ideas too. Once I had the list, I crossed off any definite nos (not that there were many) and then I grouped things by functional group, to help distinguish which skills might help with what problems. (This link is not the exact one from ysabetwordsmith because I was having a hard time finding the original comment, but the graphic IS exactly the same, with an additional page for writing down your own skills.)
When breaking things into categories, I tried to write down five to ten coping skills I already had in that group and came up with a surprising number, though I have more in some categories than others. I then tried to write down at least three new coping skills to try for each category, or enough to get me as close to ten skills per category as possible, which worked fairly well.
I also organized the coping skills by the five senses (again, link courtesy ofysabetwordsmith). This was a little trickier for me to do, as I don't have a lot of skills to split by the senses, and the main list I used didn't either, but it was a neat way to think of things, and reminded me of options like making a tea and finding things that smell nice. And on re-reading the senses graphic, I may need to stick some of those coping skills on my list too (I don't think I did that yet).
Finally, I started to make a list of what coping skills might help me cope with different emotions. I listed angry, frustrated, overwhelmed, and sad. I need to add anxious and possibly boredom, but I'm wondering if I missed any other emotions. When do you use coping skills? What kinds of things do you use? Are there any major emotions I missed?
February: Coping Skills
Find a list of coping skills - done
Cross off all the no-goes - done
Choose three to try during the month - I haven't really done this, but I have a few in mind that I want to try, and I've been more aware of when to use my coping skills and having using some of my existing ones.
Try to group coping skills with the emotions they'd help - mostly done
March: Professional Care
Make a list of things I'd want to get out of therapy, and see how many -if any- I could do myself.
Look into health coverage and local options.
Check out the online options mentioned by a friend.
April: Relationships
Decide who I want as close friends; people I have a deeper relationship with than just and occasional "Hi."
Make an effort to message those people between one and three days a week.
Decide who you'd like to keep as acquaintances and try to message them twice a month or so.
May: Taking Time to Relax
Choose two days to have no obligations, no chores, nothing to do.
Set aside one or two days where I can read all day.
Pick one day to do something fun and whimsical.
June: Boundaries
Choose four days and declare them "personal days;" no social engagements.
Find a list of healthy boundaries and a guide on how to set them.
Set at least three boundaries to stick to.
July: Self-Care
Find a list of self-care ideas.
Pick five that sound the most doable/fun/relaxing.
Cross off anything that sounds the opposite of helpful.
Try the ones I picked.
August: Process Emotions
Write down things I am unhappy about/that are giving me a hard time.
Identify things I can change and things I can't.
Work on processing and letting go of the unchangeable things.
*Reminder: It's okay to cry during this process.
Possibly involve a professional, if I've chosen one to seek out?
September: Emotional Awareness
Find a list of basic/intermediate emotions. (Check your own earlier posts because there are probably a feel emotion wheels hanging around.)
Find exercises that help identify these emotions (in self and in others.)
Pick three to five to work on identifying in myself and keep track of how I react when I feel those things.
October: Self-Esteem
Pick three good things about myself.
Write them down and put them somewhere I will see them often.
Don't call myself names or say disparaging things. Try to find a more positive phrasing.
Work on not downplaying praise.
November: Self-Awareness
Find a list of questions (possibly the set
ysabetwordsmith is using).Answer one a day.
Write down three things you want to do in the next year.
Think about what you want out of the next five years.
December: Self-Expression
Goal: Putting feelings on the page or otherwise letting them out
Methods to try: writing in a journal daily for one week, making art, poetry, expressive coping skills
Possibly look up ways of expressing yourself for more ideas.
February's goal was coping skills and the first thing I did was make a hard copy of this list of 99 Coping Skills that I got courtesy of
ysabetwordsmith. Not all of them are necessarily things that will work for me, but it gave me a good starting point and some new ideas too. Once I had the list, I crossed off any definite nos (not that there were many) and then I grouped things by functional group, to help distinguish which skills might help with what problems. (This link is not the exact one from ysabetwordsmith because I was having a hard time finding the original comment, but the graphic IS exactly the same, with an additional page for writing down your own skills.)When breaking things into categories, I tried to write down five to ten coping skills I already had in that group and came up with a surprising number, though I have more in some categories than others. I then tried to write down at least three new coping skills to try for each category, or enough to get me as close to ten skills per category as possible, which worked fairly well.
I also organized the coping skills by the five senses (again, link courtesy of
ysabetwordsmith). This was a little trickier for me to do, as I don't have a lot of skills to split by the senses, and the main list I used didn't either, but it was a neat way to think of things, and reminded me of options like making a tea and finding things that smell nice. And on re-reading the senses graphic, I may need to stick some of those coping skills on my list too (I don't think I did that yet).Finally, I started to make a list of what coping skills might help me cope with different emotions. I listed angry, frustrated, overwhelmed, and sad. I need to add anxious and possibly boredom, but I'm wondering if I missed any other emotions. When do you use coping skills? What kinds of things do you use? Are there any major emotions I missed?
no subject
Date: 2021-02-27 12:17 am (UTC)You missed excited. I know that's generally a positive one, but sometimes we need to cope with positive emotions too. Being too excited can be really annoying too.
Julie
no subject
Date: 2021-02-27 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-02-27 03:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-02-27 05:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-02-27 11:40 am (UTC)Any progress is good. Am cheering for you.
no subject
Date: 2021-02-27 06:20 pm (UTC)