Simple Ways to Work on Self-Improvement
Many individuals want to invest in self-improvement to be more mindful, to learn new skills, or to improve their overall well-being. But just how do you improve yourself? While there’s no one way of working on self-improvement, there are some strategies that have been proven to help.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Exercises You Can Do At Home!
At its simplest, CBT is designed to change unhelpful thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors to improve emotional regulation and solve problems with coping strategies. In other words, with practice you can change negative thoughts (“I am terrible at everything I do,”) to thoughts that allow for positivity and growth (“I didn’t do as well as I hoped but I will be better next time”). Over time, you will become more self-confident and have a better outlook on life. Reaching your goals will suddenly become a much easier task. A therapist can help you through the process of deconstructing and redirecting negative thoughts and behaviors, but there are many ways you can get started at home.
Finding Coping Skills That Actually Work
Sometimes we don’t know what we need to feel better, and sometimes our usual coping skills just don’t feel like they’re helping enough. Let’s build on commonly known coping skills, such as breathing, and think about the basics of coping skills. If you’re needing to add something new to your box of coping skills, are stuck with finding some good ones or your old ones aren’t working anymore, keep reading.
Breathing Doesn’t Work For Me
Intentionally breathing a bit deeper (also, doesn’t have to be deep enough to blow out 98 birthday candles) and exhaling longer sends signals to the brain that say “things are going to be ok,” so the brain stops sending stress hormones and fight/flight signals to the body. The brain is able, slowly, to tell the heart to beat regularly instead of rapidly, the lungs to breathe normal instead of shallow and muscles to be at ease instead of tensing. This is a physical process that takes time, minutes not seconds.
This is Your Brain on Meditation
If you hear the word “meditation” and think “that’s not for me,” “I can never get my thoughts to quiet down,” or “I don’t have time for that,” you are far from alone. You might picture someone sitting (or laying) with their eyes closed and an unmatchable willpower to simply send their thoughts packing. While this image isn’t entirely wrong, it certainly isn’t the only type of meditation.
10 Fun Sober Summer Activities for People In Recovery
Summer is here, and it's the perfect time to enjoy the sunshine and have fun with friends and family. If you're in recovery and looking for fun and creative activities that don't involve alcohol or drugs, there are plenty of exciting things to do. Here are 10 fun ideas to make your summer memorable.
Distraction - An Excellent Coping Skill
Sometimes, what we need a break from is our own thoughts or feelings. When our emotions feel overwhelming, they can also be harmful to our self-esteem, or, in more severe cases, to our physical or emotional safety. Positive distraction has a place in mental health, and, when used with other ways of coping, can be very healthy.
Building a Coping Kit
A coping kit is simply a list of skills and strategies a child can use when feeling anxious. It helps to practice these strategies when the child is already calm. Sometimes children can memorize their list of strategies but others may need to have them written down.
Misophonia: When Sounds Are Too Much
Chances are, a lot of people that you know are struggling with Misophonia. Once you start talking about it, you may notice more people coming forward to say they struggle with it as well. While asking someone to tolerate a minor annoyance is reasonable, this is more than that. Have patience with yourself, and talk about it!
How to Cope with Anxiety Caused by Things Out of Your Control
While we can't necessarily stop our brains from perceiving “things that are out of our control” as danger that will trigger anxiety, we can control our responses once anxiety shows up and we can also retrain our brains to not perceive a lack of control as anxiety.
Academic Burnout
The difference between the typical stress of the adjustment period of starting a new school year and burnout is how long these symptoms accumulate without adequate strategies or support for coping with the stress. If people are not able to successfully cope, they can end up suffering mentally, physically, and emotionally for months or years on end, which is not sustainable to our wellbeing.
You’ve Heard of Fight or Flight… But What About Freeze?
Fight, Flight, and Freeze are the three responses that are biological instincts to protect us when our lives are in danger. However, what we find sometimes is that we experience fight, flight, or freeze even when there is not a threat to our lives.