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Coping Skills Home Practice
Resilience
What is resilience? Resilience is defined as the capacity to recover from difficulties; the ability to spring back; to adapt well in the face of hard times. In times of increased stress and uncertainty we may experience many different emotions week to week, day to day and even hour to hour. This is to be expected. There are things we can do to help ourselves increase our ability to adapt and recover from these challenging times.
What helps increase our resilience?
- Be Kind to yourself: Determine what you can and cannot control, and use your courage to make small steps to take better care of yourself.
- Practice self-care: Try to get plenty of sleep, take time to eat your meals throughout the day so that you have energy, schedule some “down time” away from social media and electronic devices, get some physical activity, go for a walk or spend some time outdoors.
- Create a comfort zone: Choose a space where you can go to take a break, listen to music, play an instrument, read, color, paint, draw, or other quiet activity. Maybe this is a corner in your room, or a place in your yard.
- Express yourself: If you are artistic, express yourself through coloring, painting or drawing. If you play an instrument, it can be helpful to take time to express yourself musically. Writing is another way to express yourself.
- Take control: Even in times of uncertainty and even in the midst stressors that are out of our control, we can still set goals on what we would like to accomplish in our school work, with our interests and during our down time each day. Each day make a list of your goals on a piece of paper, white/chalk board, notes app on a phone, etc. Place a check mark next to each item you complete on your list. It will feel empowering to know that you still have lots of things you can accomplish during this time!
“Be Mindful card deck helps you be in the here and now with less thinking about the past or worrying about the future. You can use these daily mindfulness tools when you’re feeling anxious, moody, angry or just need to relax.”
Practice strategies from “Be Mindful” card deck:
- “Kindness to another”: Do or say something nice to someone else today for no reason. Notice what it feels like when you are kind to another.
- “Counting breaths”: Say to yourself as you breathe, “breathing in one,” and “breathing out one.” Do this until you get to 10. When you are stressed you can count your breaths and it will calm you down.
- “Mindful messaging”: Be thoughtful when you are going to send an email, text or post. Take a pause before you hit send. Read it and ask yourself, “Do I really want to say this?” This can prevent a lot of unnecessary drama.
Positive Coping Strategies/Fun Activities: Choose a few activities you would like to do this week...
Listen to music mindfully
Go for a walk, run or bike ride
Lie down and look at the clouds, find different shapes
Read
Draw, Paint
Color
Play in instrument
Spend some time outdoors, enjoy nature
Spend time with a pet
Play a game
Write a story about a fun memory you have
Baking/Cooking
Send a card or letter to a friend or family member (through the mail)
Practice a sport outside
Make a meal for your family
Practice breathing, relaxation techniques
Listen to Guided Meditation
Write something you are grateful for each day
Send a thank you note or card
Call a friend or family member (on the phone) just to say hi
Practice an instrument and then record yourself playing; share with family and friends
Play a game with friends or family through video chat
Organize or clean your room
Watch a funny movie
