Positive Coping! (YAY!)

In my journey of finding what coping techniques worked for me, I spent some time in the negative coping arena. It wasn’t one of the most proud moments in my life, but I made it through which is all that matters to me. I had to change my mind set to begin to accept more positive coping techniques.

Some of the generic or most known coping techniques are exercise, reading, writing, or listening to music. These are skills I believe college students use a lot because they are easy to do. But, in my quest to find coping mechanisms that worked for me, those listed above weren’t enough for me. I love to exercise so I would try to hit the gym three times a week, but I also had dance classes every night so I had to be careful not to overdo it. Reading was hard for me because I’ve always had a busy schedule and I couldn’t find the time to sit down to read.  I still journal and write and it has grown on me more over the years. I make special time to just sit down and write out all of my feelings and thoughts that have been building up. Listening to music is always fun, but it becomes an action of everyday life for teenagers, so it can be hard to find it as a coping technique.

After doing more research and experimenting, I’ve found some great techniques that work for me very well. First, I love when things are organized and clean. Whenever I feel down or stressed I will clean. Some days I would spend all day cleaning my room. From doing laundry to vacuuming my floor and cleaning my mirrors, I would do it all. Some days, I would even organize my closet. Throughout most of high school, my closet was color coordinated. When I had friends over they would notice and make a comment, but I loved it and kept me calm. Another coping mechanism that really worked for me was when I painted my nails or would play with different hairstyles. I would do things to pamper myself and make myself feel good. If I had the time, I would make a whole day out of it by taking a nice long shower, drying my hair, styling it, and painting my nails. I would have my own low-key spa day, without spending money. However, shopping and spending money can work as a coping mechanism as well. (Retail therapy is REAL). There are some other little techniques I use like surrounding myself by my best friends, laughing, and making others laugh.

My techniques may not work for you, but I suggest you give them a try! I didn’t even realize some of the coping techniques I used would actually help me or were even considered coping techniques.

 Here are some other techniques that have worked for me, or ones that I would like to try and suggest you try, too:

• Play with a pet
• Watch a favorite TV show or movie
• Rip paper into little tiny pieces
• Cry it out
• Go on a walk
• Go for  a really long drive
• Read the Bible
• Stretch
• Find a new music artist or listen to a different genre from what you’re used to

 I hope you can try some of these techniques. Let me know how they work out for you, so I can learn more about how it helped you.

One important skill I didn’t mention is using God. (If you’re a Christian that is.) It was hard for me at first to wrap my head around this concept, and it still is at times. Rely and pray to God and He will answers your prayers and lift your problems up from you. I only started to read my Bible within the past year and a half, but it has helped me a lot. God loves us more than we can ever imagine. Below is a video of a woman’s story of how was stress and what she did to help her get through it, and how she used God to help her.

I hope this blog post can encourage you to search and test out positive coping mechanisms that work for you.

Keep Calm & Cope On!