Creating Healthy Coping Mechanisms

There are times in life that can be challenging, and sometimes those times seem to stack up and be never-ending.  Things get more complicated when it is something that we don’t have control over. However, there are many different coping mechanisms that we can build that aren’t going to be detrimental to our health and life. 

It isn’t uncommon for people to find their way to using alcohol or drugs as a coping mechanism. But that gives you extra things to deal with, like requiring alcohol rehab or heading to a drug facility.  Healthy coping mechanisms can be used for your whole life and are things you can pass down to your children. 

So what are a couple of things that you can build to help you deal with the trials and tribulations of life? 

What do we mean when we say coping?

When we talk about coping, usually the implied thing is that there are threats to our balance or how we are generally. Threats are usually things like unexpected changes and aren’t traditionally associated with positive things. We cope with stress, we cope with illness, and we manage with bad news. Coping is ultimately a framework that we build to help us deal with things that might harm us physically, mentally, or emotionally (or those around us).  We implement some standard strategies to cope, and they usually fall into particular categories. 

• Emotionally focused means that we focus on how something makes us feel rather than how we can fix it. 

• Problem-focused means that the focus is on the problem itself. 

What we are trying to achieve will have us also fall into two specific categories. Avoidant coping means turning to something else to avoid the issue. And active coping means becoming aware of the situation and attempting to reduce the emotions and fix the issue. We know that active coping is a better strategy, but sometimes the issues we are dealing with can feel overwhelming, or we may feel helpless. In these cases, we are more likely to turn to something to help us ‘forget’ the problem rather than deal with it.  If you know your coping skills, you can create some coping mechanisms to support yourself. 

It is a good idea to implement some meditation in your day for emotion-focused coping skills. This will help you sort through emotions and learn to take a pause when you need to. Talking about a walk can also give you space and clarity - and exercise or any type is great. If you prefer a problem-focused approach, then asking for support is a great way to start, creating a to-do list with your goal in mind, and establishing boundaries to help yourself. 

Ideally, combining the two strategies will lead to a healthier outcome. During times of stress, you need to care about how you feel about the situation and ensure that the feelings don’t become overwhelming. While also looking at how you can fix the situation itself. Of course, when the situation is beyond your control, you need to find a way to be okay with that too. Taking care of your mental health is an essential part of keeping your cool when times get tough; here are some tips to help: How to Improve Your Mental Health — Black Texas.