The first article on crisis encourages you to attend to your basic needs. A person in crisis must keep their mind and body strong. This is done by eating nutritious foods, drinking plenty of water, exercising, and by sleeping at least 6 hours in a 24 hour period.
In this article I want to share some coping strategies with the assumption you are taking care of your basic needs.
First, gather as many people as you can to help guide you and to offer you support. When you share the burden of a crisis with supportive people, this may give you hope. Experiencing the loss of hope may make you feel empty inside. Hope is a powerful future oriented emotion; do what it takes to regain hope in your brain and in your heart.
Some people do not have family or friends to share the crisis with. If this is the case with you seek help from the professionals in your community. This can include, but not limited to medical personnel, clergy, social workers, the emergency hotline for suicidal people, spiritual leaders, and the government.
If you have family and friends who are supportive; stick to them like glue until your crisis is over. Allow then to share the burden with you. Allow them to care for you while you are negotiating your way out of the crisis.
Now let’s look at the day. You wake up and for a moment you may feel good until you remember there is a looming problem to be taken care of. Enjoy that moment even if it is for a slit second. Get up and attend to your hygiene. Put clean clothes on and go eat your first meal of the day. When a person is in crisis the tasks I just suggested may seem insurmountable, but the tasks can be achieved if you concentrate on the task at hand.
This brings me to one the most important coping mechanism I have to offer. Stay in the here and now. This seems too simple, but it does work if you apply it to your life. Considering the above example, getting out of bed may be the hardest activity you will do during the day. It takes courage to get out of bed when facing your crisis. Commence in self talk. “I will get out of bed within 15 minutes.” Once 15 minutes has passed and you don’t have the energy to get out of bed give yourself another 15 minutes. After you get out of bed give yourself praise that you are strong enough to face the day.
Next, more self talk; “I will brush my teeth, comb my hair, wash up, and get dressed before I face the day.” Again, once you have finished with your morning routine give yourself praise and remember you have strength. Go through the day dividing it up into sections. Accomplish tasks and then praise yourself. Concentrate on the task at hand and nothing else. This is a tall order, but it works.
Find things to be grateful for and keep gratitude in your heart. No matter what your crisis is, it can be worse, so display a grateful attitude.
Trust and have faith that you will be taken care of through this rough patch.
Participate actively in problem solving. If you need help problem solving then seek it out. Don’t give up!
For the first time since the Great Depression, people in America are experiencing more loss/crisis’ with little help from anybody or any agency. This is unfortunately our reality. We as Americans and we as individuals have come through hard times before and this time is no different. You will make it if you put the effort into your problem, praise yourself for the work, continue to be grateful, share your crisis with supportive people, and have faith and trust that things will indeed change.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.