In an increasingly complex, rapidly changing, and uncertain world, good coping strategies will help you.
Good coping skills make you more resilient in stressful situations. You can develop and strengthen this ability over the course of your life in order to react more resiliently when faced with difficulties. Psychological resilience is a basic requirement for coping with crises, which is why today we are giving you various strategies that will help you develop resilient patterns of action and improve your coping skills.
"Things are never as they seem. They are always what you make of them."
Jean Anouilh
Coping skills and psychological resilience
In stressful, stressful life situations, we need resources to return to a state of well-being and balance. Psychological resistance or resilience helps us to overcome crises through personal or socially mediated strategies and to emerge stronger from them. In a changing world characterized by uncertainty and instability, good coping skills are particularly important.
Strategies to strengthen psychological resilience
To strengthen your coping skills, you need to develop various skills that will help you in difficult life situations:
- Giving meaning: Crises often raise the question of the meaning of life. Meaning orientation allows you to give meaning to your experiences and understand them in a larger context. Instead of falling into the role of victim, you must deal with the event because this is the only way you can overcome it and restore your balance.
- Problem-solving: You need strategies to focus on problem-solving and making decisions.
- Emotion management: The ability to manage your emotions helps you react more flexibly and adaptably in difficult situations.
- Distance and rationalization: You need to be able to take a step back and look at the adverse circumstances from a different perspective. Think about it rationally to weigh all occurrences, impacts, and possibilities and find solutions.
“After my barn burned down, I can now see the moon.”
Mizuta Masahide
Natural and automatic coping mechanisms help us in stressful situations. An article published in the journal Biological Sciences reminds us that these neurobiological processes still need to be studied in greater depth. However, we can also consciously train and improve our coping skills. The following strategies will help you.
This way you can strengthen your coping skills
An article published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology makes it clear that coping strategies are an essential part of the psychological immune system that makes successful adaptation in our social environment possible. The following keys will help you improve your coping skills:
1. Define vulnerabilities
You first have to find out where your weaknesses lie and what makes you particularly vulnerable. To do this, answer the accompanying inquiries:
- How well can I deal with stress?
- Am I having a hard time regulating my emotions?
- How do I react to problems?
- Am I very impulsive when it comes to making decisions?
- Do I tend to always imagine the worst?
- Do I prefer to leave the solution to my problems to others?
- Do I find it difficult to find meaning in adverse circumstances?
The answers to these questions will help you work on specific aspects to improve your coping skills.
2. Stress vaccination training
Stress vaccination training according to Donald Meichenbaum is a cognitive procedure for better stress management. It's about training coping strategies that you can then use in everyday life. There are many methods for stress prevention that are very helpful in every day and also in highly stressful situations.
Also, consider the following tips:
- Relaxation techniques (progressive muscle relaxation according to Jacobson), yoga, qigong, meditation, and mindfulness can make you more resilient to stress.
- You have to learn to say no and set boundaries.
- See mistakes as a learning process, don't punish yourself for them.
- Positive self-affirmation through affirmations such as “I trust my abilities” or “I always find a way” is also very helpful.
3. Practice makes perfect
To be prepared for adversity, you can train your coping skills in everyday life. Small, everyday challenges make you strong and prepare you for stressful situations. The following tips will help you:
- Keep a journal to better manage your emotions. Also, analyze which strategies you use in difficult situations and how you can improve them.
- Normalize and integrate your coping strategies in all situations in life: in arguments, professional problems, mistakes, at the dentist, or during a presentation in front of many people.
“Humor is the button that keeps us from getting upset.”
Joachim Ringelnatz
4. Observe the coping skills of others
By observing others and analyzing their coping strategies, you can improve your own methods. A few questions to help you:
- Do you think your partner is skilled in this area?
- Does your family have good coping strategies?
- Do you have inspiring friends who remain calm even in difficult situations and emerge stronger from them?
- How do your role models deal with stress and difficult situations?
5. Assess your coping skills
You should integrate and automate your coping strategies so that you can refer to them at any time. Monitor and check your progress with the following simple questions:
- Have I adequately dealt with my problems in the past few days?
- Were my coping strategies successful?
- In which area should I improve?
Find out more about techniques and methods, there are many books and videos on this topic. However, don't forget that reading alone is not enough, you need to integrate the coping strategies into your everyday life.
Healthy coping skills to prevent mental disorders
Having the ability to properly deal with stressful events can help you prevent stress, anxiety, or depression. Healthy coping skills are therefore crucial in the prevention of mental disorders. Don’t hesitate to seek professional help as needed.
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