- Accumulate positive experiences — Find at least one enjoyable thing to do each day. It can be a cup of coffee with cream. It can be playing a game with your children or calling a relative. It can be going outside onto a back porch if you have one. (Disregard the joke going around that you should save the porch for a Chol HaMoed trip!)
You can also do something that has more meaning: learn that sefer you never had time for, spend one-on-one time with each of your children, speak to the friend who was always too busy.
What’s most important is that whatever you do, do it mindfully: focus your thoughts on your activity to distract yourself from thoughts leading to anxiety, etc.
- Build mastery — Do something each day that brings a sense of accomplishment. Clean for Pesach. Dust off the guitar and practice. Find some drawing lessons online. Make a nice cake for Shabbos.
- Cope Ahead — While sometimes unexpected challenges happen, there are even more challenges that happen regularly. Cope Ahead helps us stay calmer by making sure we have a plan for the inevitable things that upset us. For example, if you know your children always fight when they play a certain game, to Cope Ahead, name the emotion you feel when they do so (Describe). Then, decide which DBT skill you’ll use when they start fighting. Imagine the situation as vividly as possible, then rehearse your response in your mind — this time, with you using the DBT skill you’ve selected. Troubleshoot with what you think might get in the way, and see if you need to add any other DBT skills.
- PLEASE skills — Take care of yourself physically, so you can be calmer and take care of whatever needs to be done more easily and consistently.
PL: Take care of your physical health, corona-related and not
E: Exercise. Research shows that a balanced amount of exercise helps anxiety and depression
