Ever felt stressed out? Did you ever think to yourself,” Oh wow what a week or day!”. Everyone faces stress from time to time and being an adult by no means exempts us from feeling a mixture of emotions on a regular basis. When we experience some ups and downs all sorts of emotions may come out, and dealing with these big emotions can increase our stress levels to an overwhelming feeling.

Long-term stress can build up and cause adverse impacts on our mental health. In the suicide prevention field most of the time professionals focus on everyone else being safe and being in a good mental state but at times we forget to check within ourselves to practice healthy coping skills to reduce our own stress levels. When our emotions become overwhelming it is important to pay attention and use healthy coping mechanisms to bring our stress levels back to a manageable size. Managing our own stress levels can only then help our professional selves to better assist those we serve. It is a balancing act that requires us to stay attentive to what we as professionals feel within.

We can help ourselves and others by tapping into a variety of coping mechanisms for stress management such as family support which can include spending time with immediate family, chosen family (not related but to us feel like family) or even pets. 

Connecting with our positive friends and family members can help us make healthy decisions, encourage us and inspire us, and make us laugh when we need it most. Practicing healthy activities can give you strength and help overcome stress in a variety of ways. Most of the time when we feel stressed we find ourselves in a situation where an immediate solution is far out of reach. Some simple techniques for managing stress in the moment include: going for a walk, listening to your favorite music, or maybe dancing or singing is what you’re into. Do you like to read? Or draw? Maybe going for a jog outside with your favorite music in the background. Tapping into healthy activities can help us connect to others and help us cope with the difficult emotions we may experience on a regular basis.

Let’s be encouraged and encourage others to tap into those healthy coping mechanisms when stress becomes overwhelming. Engage in what helps you get through stressful times and when we practice healthy activities we can engage with others who might be having a bad day.

Let’s work together to encourage one another on how we can reframe stress in healthy ways!