Looking after you
Coping with life's challenges
Looking after your mental and physical health is one of the most important things we can do to help cope with life’s challenges.
Improving your ability to cope – Is the glass half full or empty?
Coping is concerned with how you think, the behaviours you use to deal with everyday life which can have a negative or positive effect on ourselves and people around us. Being able to cope is dependent upon a number of things such as the behaviours we have had in our family whilst we have been growing up, the attitudes of significant others towards ourselves. How we communicate with friends, family, work colleagues and how we see the world will all impact on our ability to cope during challenging times. There are a number of ways of improving how we cope with things that are happening in our lives. For tips on improving your coping skills please click on the link below.
Tips on how to improve coping skills:
Tips on how to improve coping skills:
Understanding what makes you tick
What are your values? What is important to you?, what are the things that make you really angry if people challenge them? For example if honesty is an important value to you, if someone lies to you this will make you very angry because it is challenging your values.
Acceptance
When something bad happens your initial reaction is ‘it can’t be me, why has this happened to me? ‘ Acceptance comes after this initial reaction and accepting the facts of what is happening to you. Acceptance is an important first step in being able to cope and deal with a situation.
Accepting when you need help
Ensuring you are accessing your support networks or anyone you feel you can trust and confide in.
Using self talk
Focusing on what is going on in your mind and talking your way through a problem can really help.
Connecting with people around you
This could include your family, friends, people you may work with - think about how you could connect with them and be more proactive in sharing things with them.
Relax
What do you do to unwind when you are feeling stressed or tense? Going for a walk or a run, watching a movie, meeting with friends, can be effective ways of learning to relax. Do whatever it is that helps you relax and feel good.
Be mindful
Be self aware of what is going on around you. What is happening to you inside emotionally, are your core values being challenged in some way? Reflect on what happened to you during the day, what was actually being said and why were you getting so upset, equally reflect on the positive things that happened to you. Why did something go really well or what was it that you did to make it go really well and celebrate it.
Try and learn something new on a daily basis.
Think about setting yourself a challenge that you will enjoy.
Giving something back
Giving can be really satisfying. Think about the last time you last gave something to a friend, a colleague or family?
Looking after yourself
Keeping yourself active and eating a balanced diet.
Be positive
Do at least 3 positive things a day. Remember you may not be able to change the situation that you are in but you can deal with it differently.
Believe in yourself
You can do it. The main thing to think about is what can you really do or how do you deal with the things that you cannot do something about. Sometimes problems feel enormous. So break down whatever is happening to you down into small pieces and think about how you are going to tackle each one.
For more information visit our support pages and top 10 tips for further information on how to cope with stressful situations and find local support.
Please note the appearance of services supplied by other organisations featured on these pages does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by NHS Kirklees.
