Coping Skills for Stressful Moments

Many people suffer from depression and anxiety, but everyone gets stressed. From an exam to a job interview to even a big presentation, a lot of things stress us out. It’s important to keep your stress in check because it can get a lot worse if you don’t take care of yourself. Some of these might be a smidge long, so you can just read the skill and then maybe if you’re interested read into it and learn ways to use it. Here’s a list of skills to help you cope with stress, anxiety, and depression.

1) Fidget.

This one is important and is easy to do anywhere. Fidgeting. Now it might sound like something people do mindlessly but it is extremely helpful. You don’t have to bring some giant stress ball because that would probably just stress you out more. It could be something tiny, a little ball of lint on the edge of your sweatshirt, the fringe of your skirt, your hair, or you could even twiddle your fingers. The one I find that best helps me is the edge of my sweatshirt sleeve since it’s not very noticeable. Fidgeting is a helpful spur of the moment coping skill for when you’re in stressful situations that you cannot leave, such as during a presentation or a class. Fidgeting is best for “on the go” stressors.

2) Read or Color.

This skill is better for after and before the event happens to calm your nerves. It’s something you always see in satisfying and relaxing pictures. A girl may be sitting on a couch or in bed sipping a cup of tea and reading a nice book while it’s raining outside. Well it’s not always going to be raining and it’s not always going to be cold, nor does everyone like tea. So for summer days where you’ll melt if you curl under a blanket and tea just isn’t your cup of tea, you can just plain read. Maybe outside on a bench or on your porch, maybe just on your couch with your cats, maybe somewhere nice and nostalgic; no matter where you are doing it, reading and coloring really calms your nerves and require no stress. Maybe, run down to the library and pick a random book; read a book you’ve read hundreds of times or one you’ve been meaning to finish. And for coloring, you can color from a coloring book, maybe even some childhood one. No one will judge. Or, if you’re so stressed you don’t even want to undergo the stress to pick colors, try a color by number or letter. Sit anywhere, read or color anything, and drink anything (except for maybe alcohol before the event or if you’re underage).

3) Organize or clean.

This is for sure not a skill for everyone. It’s not a skill I prefer unless I’m stressed about how messy my house is. Whether you’re stressed about having company or something else, organizing can help. It helps you keep your attention from what is causing the stress and having a nice, clean, and organized house helps improve well being through mental clarity. If you don’t want to organize, you’re fine with how your house looks, or you have already organized until exhaustion, don’t organize. This coping skill can sometimes cause you more stress so make sure it is the right one for you.

4) Write.

Not everyone is a writer and sometimes writing doesn’t relieve stress but causes more. So if you want to write, try to do so in a way or that won’t stress you out. Perhaps a short poem about what you’re going through or a little excerpt in a diary (paper or an online diary, depending on how much you got to say). Even just a short story would work. It could be about what’s going on or something completely random. Here’s a couple of random things in case you don’t want to be creative: pets you have or wish you had (no limits could be something you made up or even illegal), if you could be anything (job, gender, animal, robot?!) or maybe just a world without hate.

5) Breathe.

Wait what, you always breathe right, how is that a coping skill?! Not just plain breathing but converting oxygen to carbon dioxide is very relaxing. There are many breathing exercises that help you calm down, such as 4-7-8. 4-7-8 is a common breathing exercise. First, you inhale for four seconds through your nose, then hold your breath for seven seconds, and exhale for eight seconds through your mouth. If that doesn’t help or is difficult for you, try inhaling through your mouth and exhaling through your nose or not holding your breath for as long.

6) Draw.

This is one of the more common coping skills. Drawing is an extremely helpful coping skill since there are no limits to what you can draw. Draw a horse, a dog, a flower or all three. Maybe you think you’re a bad artist. Well guess what, no one cares because you can draw whatever you want. You’re not bad at art, you just have a unique style. So draw whatever. Maybe even make a comic or color whatever you want.

7) Listen to music.

From my experience this is the tactic that helps the most and is used the most. Plus, you can combine it with every other coping skill unless you prefer silence or like to make your own music. Put on headphones or earbuds or pop in a CD and listen. Listen to a song that makes you happy, or a favorite artist, or make your own music. Play an instrument you learned how to play, or learn to play one. Here are some bands to listen to: The Beatles, Panic! At the Disco, and The Gaurdians of the Galaxy Playlist (its from the movie; you can find it on Spotify).

8) Do a puzzle.

This coping skill is best used at home. You can’t whip out a puzzle in the middle of an exam or at a big party (unless everyone is drunk), so it’s best to take out a puzzle and do it at home. Certain types of puzzles help the most. Puzzles with fuzzy pieces help relieve stress because it’s soft and you can fiddle with it. One of the better parts of puzzles is that you can do a big puzzle with 1000 pieces or a smaller 100 piece puzzle.

9) Animals

One of the scientifically proven best coping skills for stress is interacting with animals. For people with pets, go ahead, pet them. It’s in their name. Cats are great for petting since they’re nice and soft and dogs are great to pet too. Both are proven to make you happier, so go ahead and take them for a walk. Or maybe you have a reptile or parrot or something. If you can handle them, do it. Pet them and play with them. It will really help. And if you don’t have a pet, you can still have fun with animals! You can volunteer at a shelter which is a win win. You get to help animals and yourself. Or you can just look at pictures of animals because when does that not help?

10) Laugh.

Laughter is the best medicine according to a lot of people, so just laugh. Laugh at yourself if you have to. I know I do. Maybe just think about what you’ve been doing and what other people might see if they don’t know the back story. For example, I wonder what people might think had they seen that when I was writing this, I was so focused that instead of taking a bite out of toast, I bit a battery. Another options is laughing at funny pictures or memes online. Do whatever makes you happy because you need to realize how important it is to start putting yourself first. Sometimes the mountain you’re struggling to climb is the one you made, yourself.