Coping Toolbox
Sometimes your anxiety builds up slowly and comes with a warning. And other times, it hits you like a freight train out of nowhere.
If you’ve been in therapy before, you’ve probably learned anxiety management techniques like deep breathing, thought redirecting, and grounding. And if you’ve practiced these techniques, especially when calm, you can usually fall on your practice and experience to pull these skills out when feeling anxious.
But if you have not been in therapy, or if you’re going through a particularly difficult time, or if it’s just been a hot minute since you’ve practiced, being able to pull these interventions out when anxious can be difficult.
Introduce a coping toolbox, which I affectionally refer to as an (cw: curse word) “Oh-Shit Kit”, which I picked up from a former colleague of mine.
Start by obtaining something you can store things inside of: a box, a bag, a jar, etc. Once you’ve obtained something, start filling it up with things that relax or soothe you. I like to recommend you start by including things that activate your 5 senses, starting with smell:
– Smell: something like lotion, essential oils, scratch and sniff stickers, your partner or another loved one’s favorite scent.
– Taste: something non-perishable (or can be easily replaced) like a favorite candy bar, a small bag of chips, your favorite fruit, etc.
– Sight: pictures of your pets, loved ones, or your dream vacation site. And I mean, print them out. Hold them in your hands.
– Hearing: this can be a playlist on your phone, a YouTube video of a guided meditation, or calling a loved one just to chat.
– Touch: This can be anything. Something warm and fuzzy that you enjoy feeling on your skin, grounding objects that you can roll between your hands and ask yourselves questions about it like the texture/material/temperature, a fidget spinner/cube, or even lotion.
I also recommend keeping two items in there designed to address panic attacks:
– A lemon/lime or sour candy of some kind
– An ice pack that you can snap to activate.
The sour item can be bitten to shock your body out of a panic attack, while the ice pack can be placed behind your neck, the back of your knees, or on a pulse point, for the same effect.
Next, put water and some sort of protein snack. Anxiety and panic attacks drain you and dry your mouth out. Finally, decorate your toolkit. Put things in it that you enjoy doing. Make it something that you like, rather than something that feels ineffective or a chore.
Carry this coping toolkit with you in places where you know you might experience anxiety, or keep it readily accessible to you. Visit the Building Your Coping Toolkit to get more ideas.
Just a reminder, I see individual clients virtually that are located in Texas. Please see my website if you’d like to schedule a free phone consult.
Until next time,
Dr. Riojas
