Alyson Dudley, MSW, RSW
With the start of a new year, like many people, I’ve started to think about what a new year will look like. We’ve been coping with living in a pandemic world for several years and with the addition of the Omicron variant, there is an overall sense of burnout and a longing for an end to all of this. When we work with DBT client who are experiencing situations they cannot control or who are trying to cope with uncertainty and hopelessness we teach several different strategies. It occurred to me that it might be helpful to apply these same strategies to how we approach 2022.
- Distract with Wise Mind Accepts: distract yourself by doing one of the following:
- Activities-find an activity to keep busy
- Contributing- help someone else
- Comparisons-may be helpful to remember how fortunate we are compared to others
- (Opposite) Emotions-try to change to the opposite emotion (e.g., watch a funny show to help with sadness)
- Pushing Away- pushing away thoughts that don’t help us
- Thoughts-distract with alternative thoughts (e.g., reciting a poem or song lyrics)
- Sensations-physical sensation to distract us (e.g., water on our face)
- Self-Soothe with Six Senses: help to soothe yourself by using your senses (e.g., the smell of a candle)
- Improve the Moment:
- Imagery: imagine yourself in a different situation
- Meaning: reflecting on what meaning you might find from this experience
- Prayer: can be a religious prayer, a quote, a mantra, etc
- Relaxation: deep breathing, stretching, etc
- One thing in the moment: can help with slowing down and focusing
- Vacation: can be an actual vacation or time spent doing something you haven’t done in a while
- Encouragement: realistic and hopeful encouragement (e.g., this too shall pass)
- Radical Acceptance: accept situations that are outside of our control without judging them, which in turn reduces the suffering that is caused by them
These skills could be helpful as we try to cope with a world that is unpredictable. Best Wishes to everyone for 2022!