Coping with Chronic Stress

The past two years we were thrown right into fight, flight, or freeze mode. There was tremendous fear and uncertainty. Then, after some time, whether or not we liked it, we settled into the closures and new social norms. Right now, two years later, it is safe to say we’re contending with ongoing and severe chronic stress.  So, what are we to do?

1. Practice awareness of your breathing.  Noticing the gentle rise and fall of our natural breathing has a way of both filling us and comforting us.
2. Take deep breaths.  Deep breathing, or diaphragmatic breathing, is taking intentional, longer, and fuller breaths all the way down to our abdomen. In doing this, we inhibit our body’s stress response and engage in a calming response.
3. Exercise. This is one well-proven way to work through the buildup of ongoing stress.
4. Create perspective. Using the word “and” during this time can help us acknowledge both the painful realities and recognize that there is more happening beyond the pain.
5. Practice kindness. Performing acts of kindness has been shown to help with stress and increase feelings of happiness.
6. Adhere to a schedule. Try and create a rhythm for yourself (and your children if you have them living with you). It helps create a sense of predictability and control, which we all need.
7. Maintain a consistent sleep schedule. Going to sleep and waking up at roughly the same time every day (yes, even on weekends) is shown to benefit not only the quality of our sleep but also our mental well-being.
8. Lead with self-compassion.  No one functions optimally under conditions of chronic stress—including you. As the world has had to readjust its own expectations, please readjust the expectations you have of yourself.

6 Coping Strategies to Ease Anxiety

New research published in American Psychologist identifies a handful of coping strategies associated with psychological resilience.

• Active Coping: An active coping strategy occurs when a person makes a conscious decision to fix something in his/her life. One can do this by seeking information/social support/help, changing one’s environment, and/or solving problems.
• Positive Reframing: This is when someone turns a negative into a positive or finds the best in a situation. It is the glass-half-full mentality.
• Instrumental Support: Thisrefers to the help others may provide you — for instance, by offering financial assistance, housekeeping, or childcare support.
• Religion/Spirituality: Coping with trauma or stress through the comfort found in spiritual or religious practices.
• Acceptance: This involves responding to change in a way that aligns with your values and not fighting against things that are out of your control.
• Emotional support:  Tapping into the warmth and nurturance that is derived from your core social circle. Spending quality time with friends and family, even if through a Zoom call or FaceTime.

The team of researchers report that substance use, planning, venting, and denial actually do more to hurt the situation than to help it. They also found that humor and self-distraction neither induced a beneficial nor negative change in people’s well-being.

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WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF A BIT DYSREGULATED OR OVERWHELMED, A FEW OF THESE SIMPLE INTERVENTIONS CAN HELP. ASKING YOURSELF, “AM I HUNGRY, ANGRY, ANXIOUS OR OTHERWISE ACTIVATED? AM I LONELY, CAN I REACH OUT? AM I TIRED, CAN I GIVE MYSELF SOME REST OR A BREAK? DO SOMETHING RESTORATIVE FOR MY ENERGY?” WE CAN MUCH MORE EFFECTIVELY MANAGE WHATEVER DIFFICULTIES MAY ARISE OVER THE COURSE OF A CHALLENGING DAY AND WEEKS AHEAD. CLICK THE LINK BELOW FOR A 12 MINUTE GUIDED MEDITATION OF THE H.A.L.T PRACTICE