Given the background I have in twelve step groups, therapy and what I'd been learning in mental health facilities, I came up with coping tools that were realistic and relatively easy to do.
Here's what I wrote down for my "mind". These are not written down in any particular order. Think of them as little pieces of paper in a hat where you reach in and pick one out.
- Writing
- Starting a blog
- Write down three (3) positive thoughts
- Allow myself to cry
- Recognize negative thoughts
- Recognize distorted thoughts
- Recognize irrational thoughts
- Recognize destructive thoughts
- Use coloring sheets or books
- Tell myself, "I am doing better."
- Call one of the people who support me
- Call Lake County's Crisis Care Number
- Recognize if I feel overwhelmed
- Recognize if I'm alone too much
- Recognize if I feel hopeless
- Is my medication changing? Do I need to call my psychiatrist?
- Recognize my fears and write them down
- Am I feeling "out of control?"
- Am I feeling panic or anxious?
- Am I feeling increased depression?
- Be real and authentic
- Tell the truth
- "I do not have to be fully healed to be fully worthwhile."
This is the first step in being able to recognize and learn when my mind is feeding me thoughts that are unhealthy to my progress. The best way to manage it is to question it, bring those questions to my therapist and psychiatrist then put a plan together that will lead me to positive self-care.
Practicing the above keeps me living in the here and now. I need to stay in the present so that my mind doesn't get stuck in the past where a lot of bad things happened. If I stay in the past, I miss out on what God wants to give me today.
And who wants to do that?
