With life at its best or worst…how do we cope?

Coping
Hi guys!
In last week’s sharing I asked a fundamental question to our sisters and mothers, all the women out there – I asked them how they were. This time around, I want to extend that conversation by asking how we all are coping. Because I know that whichever way we’re going to respond, we will all find ourselves with a common thread – at some point, something isn’t going the way it should. Could be minor, could be major. But we all have to find ways of dealing with it.
One of my earlier articles dealt with stress and how to deal with it. This time around, I want to extend to situations in general, stressful or not. It could be excitement, fame, good news, things going REALLY well… Or it could be the opposite. Now, how do we cope when life’s best and worst hits us?

• recognition. Recognize whatever is happening to you. As human being, we have to nurture the art of being keyed into ourselves, being very aware of what’s going on in our lives. Awareness brings the situation in our face, in our focus, in our sensations and perceptions. Ignoring an event or situation could be a sign that we’re not coping. Like the childhood monsters, ignoring simply means that if we close our eyes, it will all go away, that if we wake up from a nightmare, when we go back to sleep it’ll be gone. And sadly, it will not. So take a deep breathe, a step back, calm down and internalize what is happening around you.
• acceptance. Having recognized what’s going on, the next phase would be acceptance. While the enemy of recognition is ignoring, the enemy of acceptance is denial. Failure to acknowledge that there is something going on is a great sign of failing to cope, and if we’re not careful, we open the doors to delision and mental isolation, and that in turn makes our problem harder to solve. A situation accepted is already half solved.
• reach out. Don’t bottle it up; learn to ask for help. Having recognized and accepted your vulnerability, the next step would be to seek for help. It could be formal help – an institution with professionals and an ideal environment, it could be informal help – baring it all to a trusted other, be it friend, colleagues, other social support circles, etc etc.
• take it slow. One of the best ways of coping with any situation is to slow down the timeline. Take a breath, go on vacation, ask for leave – anything to help you reorient and refocus, or regroup until you’re better again.

These and many other ways are there to help us cope in healthy and safe ways. I’m quite sure they’re as many solutions as there are problems, our task is to find them, use them, and share them with others too.

How do you get by? How do you cope? Because#Mentalhealthmatters❤️🧠