Share your most successful coping strategies

Inner Peace · Post by **Inner Peace** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 11:51 am

When you are so uptight you just cannot stand it and you feel like you are going crazy, what techniques/skills do you rely on? I have yet to find any that work when I'm really stressed. Some techniques, like meditation, guided relaxation, and exercise work some, but not when I'm really uptight.

Charlie Brown · Post by **Charlie Brown** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 1:00 pm

Yoga. I have been doing yoga since this March when I feel stress (due to work and $ issues).

Several years ago McDonald's was giving away free health-related CDs. One of them is yoga. The movement that works for me is called Sun Salutation II. I do a set of 6-7; total time: @ 10 minutes. By the first set, I can feel the stress starting to leave. At the end of the last set I am saying, "Oh, I needed that" and feel so de-stressed and relaxed.

Hope that helps.

THH · Post by **THH** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 2:02 pm

I have to move. Go for a walk, ride my bike, clean what ever. I usually do something to break up those thoughts. When I feel calmer I now ask myself what scared me so bad? What was I thinking to get so up tight? The program taught me to say the feelings are just anxiety they will go away. ( They will & DO) I do use the self talk to calm myself. Being my own safe person as well, has given me more control, realizing its my thoughts I need to change, this helps how I feel.
I know lots of people who do yoga, and Tai chi, they love it. I just never had any place close by to learn these programs. If thats available I'd look into that.
I hope this helps? Keep giving it your best!

Wildcard · Post by **Wildcard** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 3:38 am

I look at it like I get to expirience something others just cant understand. I get to feel a strange wonderfully scary feeling that others dont! Some people aren't strong enough to expirience this wonderful strange feelings we do. Do you like games? Do you like to knit? Do you like music? Maybe you should play a game of tic tac toe with yourself (you can win if you know the right way to play). I think it the band Boston that has a song "more than a feeling". I dont think there are any words or phrases in there that will help but just the name says a lot. "More than a feeling" isn't that the truth? What we get to expirience is so much more than a feeling. But, then again, its only a feeling! I say just find something you really like and use it to distract yourself. Music is HUGE for me! Most of the time I get that song from Seaseme Street stuck in my mind..... "Sing, sing a song. Make it simple to last the whole night long. Dont worry if its not good enough, for anyone else to hear. Just sing, sing a song."

pearpickinporky · Post by **pearpickinporky** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 7:47 am

I generally try to just get caught up in something, whether that be a book, TV, Movie, Internet, anything to distract myself

WW · Post by WW » Wed Jul 14, 2010 9:05 am

I used to use distraction but that was only short term relief. What has gotten me feeling better the past three years is countering my thoughts in the TEA form exercise in the CBT book by Sam Obitz. Really simple and I just spend five minutes on them a day and I have totally turned around my thinking so it does not make me anxious all the time anymore.

cuttingirl · Post by **cuttingirl** » Wed Jul 14, 2010 10:13 am

Wildcard your locations CRACKS ME UP!!

Mmkay. How to snap out of it? That's a hard one. There are times it's so bad and I'm wound so tight, I just ride the wave. But what works is, in one word, distraction. Depending on my energy level, location, and accessible items, distraction might involve blasting a song, dancing, screaming as loud as possible, changing the scenery such as going outside/ inside or moving to a different room, focusing on the exhale, counting or doing simple math in my head, yoga (most effective as part of continal self-care rather than acute relief), or what I call "spacing out" which is where I let my eyes unfocus and become as still as possible, looking at nothing, doing nothing, motionless, visualizing thoughts as little shooting/ flying things below me...this one is hard to describe but is soooo effective. And you don't have to DO anything; it's the opposite of doing. Sometimes it's impossible to think or do your way out of the tangle. The yoga is so great because it puts you into kinesthetic awareness and you practice focusing on a particular thing, whether it be the air on your big toe or one particular thought at a time. In any case, becoming the observer rather than the participant, non-judging...

WW · Post by WW » Wed Oct 06, 2010 6:24 am

Never noticed your location before wildcard. You are really funny

egriff · Post by **egriff** » Sat Dec 04, 2010 4:06 am

I can back what WW said. It is a seemingly simple exercise that produces remarkable results if you use them daily.

tina martin · Post by **tina martin** » Sat Dec 04, 2010 6:07 am

No doubt the program here provides important and effective help. For me, it is exercise. Any exercise, actually. Like you, Charlie Brown, I do Sun Salutations, though it is Sun Salutation I and then warrior poses and balance poses. I also meditate twice a day.

When I retired 3 years ago I had time to myself for the first time in my life. I became a gym rat. It is a huge part of my life. Believe any energy we exert is likely to have positive effects.