Must-Know Healthy Coping Mechanisms When Dealing With Extreme Stress

33% of people feel like they are dealing with extreme stress. Learning healthy coping mechanisms to calm yourself and get through the day is a must if you want to be a functioning part of society.

When crazy things like pandemics are going on, there are probably a lot more people dealing with stress, but we don’t have the numbers to report.

If you’re stressing out and you are trying to figure out how to decrease stress and work through it, I’m going to do my best to help you out today. This pandemic has put me into major stress mode and I had my first anxiety attack, which I went to the hospital for because I thought I was having a heart attack. #facepalm

Notice the Signs of Stress Early On

The best way to deal with stress using healthy coping mechanisms is by noticing the signs of stress early on. If you let things go too long, it can be harder to get yourself back to where you need to be.

Here are a few things to look for if you’re worried you might be getting too stressed out.

• Lack of energy
• Sad feelings
• Overwhelm
• Upset stomach
• Loss of sexual desire
• Chest pain
• Inability to sleep

If you’re dealing with one or more of these issues, you should take a break and try to use one of the following healthy coping mechanisms below.

Healthy Coping Mechanisms Can Change Your Life

If you don’t remember these healthy coping mechanisms, they aren’t going to help you. Grab your phone notes or a pad and write a few of these down. I went to a conference not long ago and one of the ladies had us write self care tips on popsicle sticks to pull them out whenever we need them — so that’s another great idea too.

1. Stop Asking So Much of Yourself

The person that puts the most stress on us — is us! We expect so much of ourselves. We can’t make mistakes because if we do, we beat ourselves up until we go from stressin’ to depression.

Being realistic with yourself and those around you will help you when you’re dealing with stress. If you aren’t taking care of yourself — you can’t take care of anyone else.

Instead of giving yourself a superhuman task load, think about what you can do and still have some gas left in your tank at the end of the day.

2. Develop a Support Team

While we would love to think we are an island, that’s not the case. Even when going through things like social distancing, we need a support team. Our support team doesn’t have to be with us in the flesh, either.

If you’re quarantining by yourself or with your family, bring some outside people through zoom and other video conferencing platforms. Support each other and have a good laugh if you want to feel a good stress release.

Laughing and enjoying your support team is one of the best healthy coping mechanisms you can tap into.

3. Take Responsibility – Take Control

When things like viruses that are out of our control come at us, it is easy to feel like we don’t have control of anything. When we stop taking responsibility for our state of mind, it’s easy to slip into a very bad place.

Taking responsibility doesn’t mean you’re saying anything if your fault per se. It means that you’re ready to make a difference in your life and make things better. When you take back control and get into problem-solving mode, you’ll immediately start to feel a decrease in your stress levels.

4. Use Morning Pages

One of the things that has helped me for years is morning pages. I have to say that when I had my anxiety attack — I was not doing my morning pages. In fact, I had stopped for months.

What happens with us humans is that when we stop experiencing pain, we forget the good habits that get us to where we were.

Morning pages is an app that I use to write out at least 500 words per day. I use it blast all of my negative and nasty energy. I say all of the things that I am thinking that I would never say outloud.

These things include my fears, doubts, desires and dreams. It is password protected, so feel free to go wild.

5. Take a Minute to Meditate and Breathe

If you’re pressed for time or you just don’t like sitting still — take a minute to breathe. I use the headspace app and sometimes I just take a minute to breathe and close my eyes.

When I do this it signals to my brain that if I have time to do this — things must be okay.

6. Get Moving

The time I feel the most stress is when I am sitting still. When it comes to healthy coping mechanisms, getting moving does it all. It helps to distract you and it helps get your blood flowing and lots of other sciency stuff.

7. Count Backward

Counting backward can be used in a lot of different ways from helping distract you from pain to getting you to do something you don’t want to do.

I love Mel Robbin’s 5 Second Rule and I’ve listend to her audiobook about a million times. I do use it a lot to get me out of my stressed out mode, so I actually do what I know I should be doing.

Give it a try the next time you’re stuck in stress goo. 5,4,3,2,1…

Using Healthy Coping Mechanisms to Have a Good Day

You don’t want to have a mediocre day or just get through the day using healthy coping mechanisms. Make sure your goal is to have a good day when you’re using these tools.

Do you want to learn more about dealing with life issues and other important topics? Bookmark the site and come back again soon.