Welcome to the sixth module of LUNA
This week, you will learn how to use coping skills to manage your anxiety. We will also give you detailed instructions for two specific skills:
1. Deep breathing
2. Grounding Practice
You will also continue practicing the activities in your plan of action while you practice your coping skills.
You will spend about 30 minutes – 1 hour reading, watching videos, and doing activities. You will also spend a couple of minutes every day this week practicing your coping skills.
Keep Practicing
Completing exposure activities in multiple different situations and in multiple different ways will help you overcome your anxiety and fear. George and Sophia know there are a lot more fears that they need to work on, so they have been thinking about what fears they will tackle next.
Using the Weekly Practice Plan worksheet, make another schedule for this week. If you would like to continue focusing on your first plan of action this week, great idea! Keep going! Look at your schedule from last week and think about how you can add more activities, change some, and try harder ones if you feel up to it.
If you feel you are ready to move on to a different fear, try to create a new plan of action. Talk to your parent and create a new plan by looking at Module 4 again, and by using the My Plan of Action worksheet. Then, make a schedule for this week based off your new plan!
Recognizing When You Are Anxious
Back in Module 2, you learned that your body signals can tell you what emotion you are feeling. When you feel worried or anxious, your muscles might get tense, you might start shaking, you might get a stomachache, or your heart might start beating really fast. Take a look at this image or read more below for some different ways your body can signal to you that you are anxious.
- Feeling cold/frozen
- Feeling hot
- Racing heart
- Numbness
- Tense
- Headache
- Shivering/shaking
- Sweating
- Fidgeting
- Trembling
- Blushing
- Stammering
- Hyperventilating
The following worksheet is to help you recognize the physical signs of anxiety in your own body: Recognizing Anxiety in My Body
Coping skills can help you feel more prepared to face whatever is making you anxious by calming down your mind and your body. Up next, we will teach you how to use different types of coping skills.
Everyone experiences many different kinds of emotions on a daily basis. Sometimes individuals can experience emotions more intensely than their peers. There are techniques you can use to help difficult emotions become less intense. These techniques are called coping skills, and they are healthy ways to reduce upsetting emotions.
One type of coping skill involves targeting your body and your senses. When we feel anxious or stressed, our muscles often tense up and may remain that way without us realizing. One way to make our body feel more relaxed is to purposefully tense muscles in certain parts of the body really hard then release. For example, you can raise your eyebrows really high to activate your muscles above your eyes. If you hold this for 10 seconds, then release for 15 to 20 seconds, this can help you realize that you’re in control of your muscles, even when you’re anxious.
To target your senses, you could make a sensory box filled with different objects of various weights, textures, and colors. You can put things like fidget spinners, pop-its, stress balls, a harmonica, and slime in there. Each person is different, so it depends on which of these sensory things would help you. For some people, a heavy blanket, relaxing music, scented candles, or soft plushies would also help them calm down.
Another type of coping skill is doing enjoyable activities. When you’re anxious or worried, it can be difficult to concentrate on things you usually enjoy. It may be hard but doing one simple activity you like can help you feel more relaxed, confident, and grounded so that you are more prepared to handle challenging emotions. For example, things like going for a walk, listening to music, or baking can be helpful. You can also tap into your creative side by taking some pictures or doodling on a piece of paper.
Different people cope in different ways, and you can explore which coping behavior works best for you. You will be learning more about two specific coping skills- deep breathing and grounding, but there are many other ways to cope with difficult emotions.
As you have learned, the most important thing you can do to overcome your fears and anxieties is to face them head on, but sometimes, you might feel too anxious to be willing to do this. Practicing coping skills won’t help you overcome your anxiety in the long-term, but coping skills can be a great short-term strategy to help you face your fears and reach your goals.