There will always be change. Your positions in life will change, you’ll take on new duties at work, and your marriage can have difficulties. Even good things like being promoted, getting adopted, or moving to a new house may upset someone inside. It may be difficult to find Strategies for Coping with Life Changes when things like personal changes or the political environment change.
You could experience a range of feelings, including happiness, despair, and depression. Stress is a component of almost every kind of transformation. The problem is, when you’re under stress, healthy living habits like eating well, exercising, getting enough sleep, and socializing tend to take a backseat.
How To Cope with Life Changes
1. Accept It Instead of Fighting It
Accepting the change is one of the vital Strategies for Coping with Life Changes. Since suffering is the result of resisting what is already true, embracing it rather than fighting it is the natural course of action.
This is easier said than done, given our brain’s natural tendency to go into defensive mode during periods of resistance to change. Like anything else, however, our minds can be trained to get used to a new pattern and accept change. Try embracing this shift in circumstances rather than wishing things were otherwise. Pay attention to:
- Being in the present at all times.
- The things you have control over, including your to-do list, future work, and self-care.
2. Remember Even Good Changes Can Cause Stress
Even significant, good life events like getting a promotion, enrolling in college, purchasing a home, or having a child may be quite stressful. Why, however, are we able to handle “positive” change better if these same conflict sensors are triggered?
The majority of people feel that if rapid changes are seen positively only due to one’s mentality, one may adapt to them depending on their personality type. With the correct mindset, we may use our stress to become proactive and finally overcome this tense and unpredictable period.
Nonetheless, our brain automatically adopts a negative bias for safety when there is a negative shift. This implies that since our brains dislike the likelihood of equations including unknown variables, they immediately anticipate the worst when there is ambiguity. Research has shown that 75% of individuals misjudge when negative events are likely to occur.
3. Devise A Plan
Making a good plan is one of the Tips for Coping with Life Changes. How do you handle abrupt changes that are accompanied by a great lot of uncertainty and anxiety? What you can control, you take charge of.
Consider what you can do to reduce the amount of anxiety and tension you experience at this time rather than hiding under the covers and waiting to see what occurs, which will just heighten your sense of powerlessness and uneasiness.
Create a strategy and goal aspirations for yourself first. We say “intentions” because you don’t want to overwork yourself at a time when you’re already under a lot of stress. On the other hand, you’ll feel more in charge of your life if you set some objectives. So, what are your plans? During this time, are you going to prioritize your company growth or self-care?
Whatever it is, describe it precisely and provide a time estimate. For example, I’ll meditate for ten minutes each morning or devote twenty minutes to company growth every Tuesday and Friday.
4. Maintain Your Routine As Much As You Can
The more things change, the more crucial it is that you adhere to your usual routine. Once again, it all boils down to you doing what you can to take charge. Your ability to tolerate changes in your environment and your level of uncertainty will both decrease as you gain more control over your life.
Establishing routines, such as waking up at 8 a.m. and reading the news while sipping tea or reading a chapter of a book before bed, provides us with a sense of stability. The brain finds it comforting when we are reminded that certain things never change through routines and habits.
Furthermore, research has shown that focusing on the topic at hand allows our unconscious mind to continue processing, which leads to better decision-making than when we are consciously considering it. Consider writing down your schedule so you can cross things off as you go each day if you’re very worried and agitated. It relieves your brain of one more item to process.
5. Stick To A Healthy Diet
Maintaining a healthy diet is one of the Strategies for Coping with Life Changes. Many of us tend to seek carbohydrates—bread, muffins, cake, etc.—when change occurs. This might be the case since consuming carbohydrates increases serotonin, a neurotransmitter that may be relatively depleted during times of transition (stress). Comfort foods may help you relax, as long as you consume them in moderation.
Writing down your food is one approach to keep track of what you’re consuming. You may use an app or a notepad for this. Seeing what you are eating forces you to pause and consider if you want to eat that second muffin. (It is not advised that you record your food intake if you have a history of eating problems.) Observe if you are using alcohol or other drugs more often; under stress, your usage of these substances might surprise you.
6. Exercise
We all know that exercise is healthy for us, but we also recognize that this is a difficult one, particularly because many of us are restricted to our homes. It improves our mood, keeps us healthy, improves our sleep, and dramatically lessens the symptoms of depression. Find an exercise program that works for you and include it in your daily schedule to ensure that it gets done.
If you exercise regularly, doing three or four exercises for fifteen to twenty minutes each day, three or four days a week, will keep you strong. You may utilize everyday objects or the exercise equipment you own at home. Maybe you should simply turn on some music and dance around the living room, or maybe you could clean your house. Whatever it is, you need to move to release endorphins.
7. Practice Self-Care
Self-care is one of the Tips for Coping with Life Changes. Far too many of us neglect our well-being. We prioritize our jobs, get overwhelmed by life’s hectic schedules, and struggle until we burn out. Do you recognize this?
It’s a somber fact of life, particularly considering that everything we do—from our attitude and general well-being to our concentration and output—is dependent on our mental health. It’s easy to find yourself working very long hours with no time for breaks when you have to be there for your customers all the time.
We must prioritize taking care of ourselves during this period of extreme worry and uncertainty. Try it even if you don’t “believe in it” or think it will have an impact. What stands to lose for you? You must regularly ask yourself what’s on your mind and take action to address your worries if you want to control your anxiety. We should design workout regimens for our mental health in the same way that we do for our physical bodies.
In addition to maintaining a good diet and getting adequate sleep, you may include the following daily workouts into your routine:
- Journaling every day.
- Ten minutes of meditation each morning.
- Any kind of physical activity, such as yoga.
8. Reach To Your Support Group
Nobody makes it through life alone, and at a time when social support is more crucial than ever, we are urged to keep our distance from others when we do step outdoors and are confined to our houses.
Several studies have shown the importance of social support in preserving both mental and physical well-being. What does this imply, then? It implies that we need to be chatting, looking to our loved ones for support, and asking for assistance when necessary. Your friends and family probably need this too, so give them a call or send them a WhatsApp message so you can laugh or weep together.
Find out whether they feel OK. Install apps that let you play multiplayer games. Play games and have meaningful conversations with your family when you’re at home. We rarely get the opportunity to dedicate ourselves to this kind of time. It is one of the vital Strategies For Coping With Life Changes.
Why Our Minds Are Resistant To Change?
Our minds are strong instruments that can turn into weapons, and when things change, that is precisely what they do. The brain’s conflict sensors are triggered by change, which leads to mental disarray known as cognitive dissonance. People find this conflict sensor activation to be distressing.
To put it simply, cognitive dissonance is the unpleasant sensation you get when you behave in a contradictory manner or attempt to retain two conflicting ideas at the same time. For instance, in the case of the recent pandemic, many of us are aware that things have changed significantly, but we find it difficult to find Strategies for Coping with Life Changes. This contradiction and internal conflict of emotions may be quite unsettling.
FAQ
Q: What is a useful coping strategy for change?
A: Reflecting on the past is one way to deal with change. Taking time to reflect on the past has many advantages. The present might be very disappointing or dismal. An elderly person may find some satisfaction or the strength to tolerate the present by remembering a better period.
Q: Why is it that I find it difficult to adapt to change?
A: Excessive stress-related responses that entail negative thoughts, intense emotions, and behavioral changes are known as adjustment disorders. An extreme response is elicited by a distressing shift or incident compared to what is usually anticipated. This may lead to a great deal of issues at work or school, as well as in relationships with other people.
Q: Emotion-focused coping: what is it?
A: Emotion-focused coping is the use of coping mechanisms to manage emotions that are triggered by stressful events. To lessen suffering and control emotions, it makes use of inward-looking practices, including journaling, breathing exercises, and meditation.
