It is entirely normal to have a slightly harder time in terms of your emotions if you have some significant life changes. Your schedule might be thrown off, which could result in you experiencing more stress and less sleep. This could cause your mental health to get weaker, which could leave you more vulnerable to mental illnesses, as well as physical illnesses, which could make you even less capable of coping with the difficult situation that you find yourself in. Here are some tips for healthfully coping with stressful life changes.
1. Consider Talking to a Counselor
The first thing that you should do is consider talking to a counselor in the short term. This might seem weird because you have never talked to a counselor before. You might not think that you are "sick enough" to use the services of a counselor and that his or her time should go towards helping someone that is having a harder time than you. This is not a helpful position to have. There are enough counselors for people to get help and your time and mental health is just as valuable as that of other people's. See if your work has some short term counseling services that you could qualify for that are free. Go to your college's counseling services center. Work with your insurance to find a pay as you go therapist. This will help you get some professional insight on your situation.
2. Take Time for Yourself
Be sure that you are taking time for yourself and doing things that make you happy some of the time. This builds the overall resilience of your mental health and makes you able to better deal with the stressors that life throws at you. If you have consistently been taking time for yourself and something bad happens, you are more likely to be able to figure out a way to deal with the problem, rather than go back to sleep so that you don't have to think about it.
3. Focus on What You Can Control
Some life changes might leave you feeling helpless. Focus on what you can control. You can control how you see the situation. You can control your own emotions. You can't control how other people feel and act. Focus on yourself and your own surroundings that you have direct control of. This will allow you to manage this stressful life situation much more easily.
For more information, talk to a company that specializes in counseling.
Share7 May 2017
I suffered depression for much of my life, and I lived with it for years before seeking help. I visited a psychiatrist and received an antidepressant prescription along with a referral to a counselor. I filled my prescription, but I put off making an appointment with the counselor. The medication began to help, so I decided that I didn't need to see a counselor after all -- or so I thought at the time. After a couple of months of medication, a close friend of mine died of an illness. I then learned that even though the medication helped my depression, I still had not learned the coping skills I needed to deal with traumatic life experiences. That even motivated me to seek counseling, and it helped me immensely. I created this blog to remind others that medication can help when suffering with depression, but counseling is also extremely important.