Coping Skills You Can Use When You Don't Have Much Time Or Privacy?

[Hashi]

Thank you, everyone.

Listening to sounds around me is good. If iI feel really bad then it seems any music at all sets my nerves more on edge, but sounds are OK.

Venusian, I find repetitive doodling surprisingly calming too, when I'm at home. Also colouring, especially geometric patterns (I have colouring books for adults from Amazon). It must do something to my brain because as long as I have plenty of time and quiet to do it in, it's as effective as taking medication.

Unfortunately, I've had to take medication the last couple of days but that wasn't surprising because I had to deal with some major stress at work on top of everything else. I'm going back to the non-chemical ways this week (as long as you don't count mints!)

Thank you for all the ideas, I really appreciate it.

Hashi

 

[Zef]

If you can try visualization, I do a little thing with imaging a ring of white light surrounding me and then telling it what to do. Calm me or protect me from the negative vibes of others or whatever I feel I need. Visualize it it for a little while, then just let it be, while you focus on other things.

 

[Abstract]

Thanks Hashi and and everyone for these. Funny Hashi as after our other conversation I searched "coping" to look at what people do and ended up here. :D

 

[safenow]

Good thread. I also recommend the 5-4-3-2-1 game. It's where you use all your senses to ground. Like 5 things you see. 4 things you touch. 3 things you hear. 2 things you smell. 1 thing you taste. Please, read that thread it will help no matter where you are. (just don't close your eyes to do it.)

[DLMURL]https://www.ptsdforum.org/c/threads/fast-grounding-5-4-3-2-1-game.30079/[/DLMURL]

safenow

Good luck everyone

 

[Hashi]

Funny Hashi as after our other conversation I searched "coping" to look at what people do and ended up here. :D

LOL.

I'd forgotten I wrote this, ugh that was a very bad time. It was helpful to get these ideas here.

I've learnt more DBT skills since then, which have helped. I think with me it always seems to come back to what's going on generally and how much I can do overall to help myself feel safer. In February when I wrote this I'd recently lost my old therapist and was still missing her badly, was seeing a new therapist and it wasn't right but I hadn't faced that yet, and my work situation was very nasty. This was such a bad time, and all my coping was going into a major (and very public) work project that had to be completed.

I hope the ideas are helpful, though, Abstract. Zef mentions visualisation here, I like what he says about it. I'm going to reply properly to you in the other thread too.

 

[Hashi]

I also recommend the 5-4-3-2-1 game

I agree, it's a really helpful thing to do.

 

[Sailorgal]

One thing I happened upon by chance when I was once experiencing anxiety was checking my heart rate. I was curious to see how fast it was for some reason. It parallels to what Safenow recommended with counting.

I have a stopwatch on my phone so I set it and started counting my heartbeat against on the side of my neck. You get so consumed with counting and watching the stopwatch you forget everything else!

Kind of a funny way I calmed myself down. But it worked. :)

 

[MissMacD]

When I got stressed out at my office job and started panicking I'd go for walks around the block on my breaks and visit the super friendly dog that belonged to the owner of a tattoo shop.

Knowing when I am starting to feel panicked instead of realizing when I am full blown panicked makes a huge difference. If I feel something coming on there are minor things I can do like splash some cold water on my face but full blown is really hard to deal with.

I have done the 5-4-3-2-1 game. Taking deep breaths helps, when my anxiety kicks into high gear my breathing changes. Closing my eyes for a few moments helps. Stretching exercises are really helpful for office jobs.

 

[safenow]

Thank you for all the ideas, I really appreciate it.

I have several little things that grounds me almost instantly, when a little is the one triggered. For example: I have a little sculpture of a small boy kneeing on the ground looking a pup, who's tongue is sticking out. I keep it in the living room, where it holds a prominent place. I won't go into why it's so calming for them, but lets just say, it reassures them that animals are our friends and family and they love us, and used to play with us.

I have a small purple stone. I'm not sure the name of this gem stone (which has since been stolen by a neighbor), but it reminds me of a time when I was in the desert in the middle of the night. It was immediately following a bad thing I won't talk about here, when I saw this type of gem for the first time. It was cracked open and contained all these even tinier jewels. The outside was rough and hard and not so pretty, but when you opened it up, it was beautiful and full of energy. I used to keep it on the sculpture of the boy and pup. It grounds me righ away, to remember that night with the star lit sky and peace of the desert when no one else is around.

I had the knob off my desk, that reminds me I can communicate with people (for example here) around the world who know about my issues (Multiple Personality Disorder - MPD and PTSD) and like me anyway.

Just holding the two little ones helps calm me, so I can at least drive (now wheel), or walk where I need to go.

I have a little that has a tiny red teddy bear with two numbers on it's chest. Those are the first two numbers of our address. When we go for a full day, we never know if she'll come out, so we take it with us so she'll know how to get home. She also has a teddy bear that Michael sent her with a Canadian flag on it's chest. When we have to go to the hospital, she takes that with us. When it's allowed, she keeps that with her to keep her calm during the tests and shots and things.

That type of thing. I hope you can find a small thing you can put in your car, or in your purse, so you can take it out and hold it, rubbing your fingers over it to ground yourself quickly. I hope this helps.

safenow