Feeling Down? Top 5 Coping Skills to Thrive

Feeling down and need inspiration and a pick-me-up? These 5 thriving coping skills can help you go from surviving to thriving when feeling down.

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Summary of this blog post:

5 Top Coping Skills:

Thriving and coping when feeling down

Surviving is exhausting
Find freedom through falling
What to do when you are feeling down
TOP 5 THRIVING COPING SKILLS: Thriving and coping during a falling season.
Feeling down and need more help?
Join My Tribe

Surviving is exhausting

I do not like being physically ill, or emotionally down, or mentally overwhelmed; so I fight it. I fight off things that are uncomfortable and unfamiliar. When I fight all things negative, I fight it with all my might.

What do you fight in your life right now?

When I am physically sick, I do not want to accept my body, so instead I seek doctors or alternative methods to feel better even, if it’s just a little better.

It can be very difficult to accept negative feelings. Instead, many time I fake being happy till I feel better even if happy doesn’t happen. This is because I do not want to accept being overwhelmed with whirling thoughts and disappointing expectations. Instead, I write out my thoughts and talk about my expectations to sort through what’s important so I can calm my thoughts.

What do you do when you are feeling down?

Yes, all of this is survival, but is it really living and thriving to the fullest? Is it worth it? In the big picture, the cost of fighting to survive over and over again takes a toll on the whole person; wearing down the body, mind, emotions, and soul.

How can we go from surviving to thriving?

How can we prevent burnout?

Find Freedom through Falling

So the whole time I am down physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually; I call this low phase: falling. I borrowed the term from Brene Brown in her book, Rising Strong. When I read “the truth is that falling hurts, the dare is to keep being brave and feel your way back up,” I realized that I was putting a lot of my energy into fighting the experience of falling instead of just accepting that I was falling and freeing my energy.

To have the courage to accept falling is difficult, it’s painful and sometimes certain fears are dredged up, ‘What if this feeling stays forever?’ ‘If I accept falling, will I hurt more?’ Yet, I found that once I accepted the experience of falling, something happened and I found freedom, not bondage.

Acceptance of Present Moment

With acceptance came freedom, freedom to accept the present moment, freedom to accept me as I am, and freedom to fall and hurt. Once I accepted my falling experience, I actually found I felt lighter, not heavier.

I could accept the present circumstances and assess them instead of running from them. Once I could really look at my situation, I could see that it did not control me nor my future.

Real Life Application:

How could you accept the present moment?
How does this help, accepting the present moment?

Ok, so now that you accept that you are in this season of your life, what happens?

It may feel comfortable, in fact, it may be painful. Every time your fears throw you into a panic and your future seems dark, there are a few things that can help you look past your fears and see a hopeful light in your future.

What to do when you are feeling down

Just giving this season a name helps me identify what I am going through. When I can name my season and my emotions, then they do not have control over me any longer. I can now choose what to do in this falling season of my life. Having a choice over my response to the situation gives me hope. I have a choice in how I respond even if I do not have a choice in the situation around me or with how others respond.

Real Life Application:

What name do you give this season in your life?
You have a choice in this season of your life, how do you choose to respond?

Give yourself grace with whatever answers you give. Be authentic and compassionate, that is a one way to find healing and resiliency in tough circumstances.

TOP 5 THRIVING COPING SKILLS:

Thriving & Coping When Feeling Down

Here are a few things that I can choose during a falling season, and in fact, during any season of my life. I can choose any of these Top 5 Coping Skills to help me calm my nervous system, my whirlwind thoughts, my jumbled emotions, and my spiritual formation.

Need a Pick Me Up?

1. Intentional Focused Breathing

Focusing on my breathing and intentionally taking deeper and slower breaths helps me focus on the present moment. Focused breathing helps me slow down, and this helps my thoughts and my emotions slow down, which also helps me nervous system slow down. Now I can even breath calmer and slower, regulating my breathing regulates my whole entire body inside and out.

Follow 1300+ ideas on how to get through difficult times, calm down anxiety, and improve daily wellness!

Counseling Creatively & Wellness board on Pinterest

2. Meditation & Mindfulness: Ground in the Present Moment

Just be, not do. Just being is a hard skill for me, so I am practicing just being a little at a time. If meditating is hard for you, try grounding yourself using your 5 senses and the 5-4-3-2-1 steps.

Meditating helps me just be, I start for 5 minutes and sometimes go to 10 or longer. I sit in a comfortable space, start with a few deep breaths, and focus on one calming aspect: deep breathing, sacred phrase, loving image, or soothing nature. The more I practice just being, the easier it is to just be.

For more ideas on practicing mindfulness & meditation, follow:

Mindfulness & Meditation board on Pinterest.

3. Writing & Journaling with BUJO

I love my BUJO (bullet journal)!! It is my planner, my creative space, my free flowing journal. Writing in my BUJO boosts my mental health!!

I like to think of journaling as free writing, putting my thoughts and feelings down on paper helps me sort through them like puzzle pieces. The more often I write out my experiences, the more the puzzle pieces make sense and I start to see patterns and envision a beautiful picture. Sometimes I write a paragraph, or write bullet phrases in my bullet journal, or I may write a blog post. The process of writing helps me get the inner happenings out onto a surface to reflect on what is going on inside.

Follow 1800+ bullet journal ideas (BUJO for fellow BUJO tribe) for inspiration, ideas, and layouts:

BUJO & Wellness board on Pinterest

Goals & Planning
Daily, Weekly & Monthly layouts
Printables
Doodles & Seasonal Ideas

4. Relationship Support: Reach out to a friend

Reaching out to a friend may seem difficult when you are feeling down. Consider the opposite, if you don’t reach out, you will remain alone and no one will have the chance to be there for you. At least give people a chance, reach out to a friend and connect with them. It may take finding the right person to reach out to, try a friend, a pastor, a neighbor, a colleague, or a counselor.

One way I can process my inner world of thoughts and feelings it by talking it out with a trusted friend. Remember, this can be a family member or friend or therapist or pastor. Whoever I trust to listen to my voice and help me through processing my upside-down world. It is a good friendship when you can take turns calling each other to talk out what’s going on in each of your lives.

If you have ever wondered how to help someone in pain, people in pain are usually in need of support, love, acceptance, and respect. Just offering a listening ear can be so helpful.

Follow 1300+ ideas on how to get through difficult times, build relationships, and help with anxiety, ADHD, and depression:

Counseling Creatively & Wellness board on Pinterest

Build relationships
Decrease anxiety symptoms
Help with depression
Art therapy activities
ADHD coping skills

5. Spiritual Connection: Praying or reading sacred text.

Focusing on a greater power other than myself helps me feel like I am not alone, that I have someone on my side walking with me through life. I call this greater power God, I believe we can call this greater power different names and still find peace and love greater than ourselves. When I pray to my God in my quiet space, it’s a safe place for me to cry out and then I can be still. I can listen for a loving comfort to touch my heart. Reading a sacred text is also comforting because I see that other’s have experienced pain and have found life after, I find hope in a sacred God and I am filled with light.

For over 600+ ideas like praying and reading sacred text, follow my Spiritual Journey board on Pinterest.

BONUS:

Get inspiration with over 900+ motivating quotes, follow:

Motivational & Inspirational board on Pinterest.

Download these TOP 5 Thriving Coping Skills in this Infographic!

Feeling Down & Need More Help?

We live in such a busy world, that sometimes it is hard to reach out and talk to someone about our pain we are experiencing. Maybe your have been feeling down for a few weeks, or are having trouble coping through hard times?

You are not alone!! Connecting with a listening ear is vital to getting out of this rut. There are too many suicides happening and too many people needing a listening ear.

If you need someone to help to talk to, counselors and mental health professionals can help provide support resources on:

time management
stress management
procrastination
relaxation skills
goal setting
personal development

If you are considering suicide or feeling hopeless, there is someone who can help you just by making a phone call.

In the United States: 1-800-273-8255

Australia

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relieve stress, anxiety, & depression symptoms
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Summary of this blog post:

5 Top Coping Skills:

Thriving and coping when feeling down

Surviving is exhausting
Find freedom through falling
What to do when you are feeling down
TOP 5 THRIVING COPING SKILLS: Thriving and coping during a falling season.
Feeling down and need more help?
Join My Tribe