Blog Post 93: Coping with Distressing Events
With violence escalating throughout the world, it can be very difficult to manage stress and anxiety. Type C people that have been traumatized by conflict need to take special care. In this post, we offer a few suggestions on how to cope with distressing events in the world.
Create calm and mindful moments. Acknowledge the circumstances, take a moment to validate your own emotions and feel your feelings. Then come back to the present moment.
Try new media habits. If you find yourself feeling distress from consuming news, consider a few questions. Does this help me take productive action around this issue? Does this give me a healthier perspective on the issue? Does this improve my mood? If the answer is no, take a break.
Prioritize self care. Healthy distractions are a good strategy here - they can help clear your mind, turn down the volume on upsetting emotions, and remind you of life’s joys. Examples are reading a good book, watching a light/funny movie or TV show, spending time in nature, cooking a favorite meal, taking a warm bath. It’s also super important to keep up the focus on nutrition and exercise; it can be so easy to indulge in comfort foods and/or alcohol to take the edge off.
Focus on what you can control. Often when events play out on the world stage, we want to do something to change the situation. There are things we can do - like donating to humanitarian organizations - but most of the situation is beyond our control, and we have to make peace with that.
Seek professional support if you need it. If you find yourself consumed with the situation and feeling hopeless/unable to cope, it may be time to work with a therapist who can help.