Needing to implement self help ideas into your live infers that you may be unwell, struggling with life challenges or not functioning to your full capacity. We are constantly teaching our children self help strategies to encourage their independence and to equip them with the skills they need to function as adults. We often forget that, even as adults there are times in our lives we need to do a check on our own well being and apply some Self Help strategies.
Being a parent, friend, professional or whatever responsibilities you have can cause you to have times when you may feel less able to cope.
In these situations, it is a good idea to have self-help strategies to focus on to enable you to maintain a maximum level of functioning.
Why Self Help
Helping yourself is a great way to maintain optimum wellness and health. In our day to day lives we can struggle with challenges the cause stress. If we don’t address the effect these challenges have on us we can, without being aware of it get into a situation where we are not coping and we become angry, frustrated, irritable or even physically or mentally unwell.
A way to explain this would be above and below the line thinking. The diagram below illustrated what this is and the effect above and below the line thinking can have on our day to day functioning.
The line signifies a choice between how you thoughtfully respond to a situation or automatically react. Stress can have an instant effect on where you are “operating”. If unchecked you could be below the line for the majority of time and not even realise it.
- Operating above the line is open and positive. It’s about ownership, accountability and responsibility.
- Operating below the line is closed and negative. It’s about denial, excuses, defensiveness and blame.
If you identify you are thinking below the line possibly causing you to become irritable, frustrated or anxious, it is then using some self help strategies may be of benefit to you.
What are Self Help Strategies
Self Help and Self Care Strategies seem to be interchangeable. The important thing is to recognise you are starting to have challenges and do something about it.
Refer to my post https://jilliesblog.com/self-care/
There are several Self Help books available that give suggestions and tips on how to self help.
For some people it is listening to music, going for walks or watching movies, others maybe seeking help from friends or family.
It’s very easy to find information you don’t already know. It’s much more challenging to apply it successfully to your life. Change is scary to most people, implementing changes and improving your lifestyle is very rewarding.
Suggestions for Self Help Strategies
Take Action
Ask yourself how you can apply the information to your life. Many self-help materials are very theoretical. They have great ideas, but it’s not always clear on how to apply them to your life. As you are reading, listening, or thinking, ask yourself how you can use the information to enhance your life.
Create poster and have it on the fridge, it could be your signs of overwhelm or what to do when you notice you are feeling a particular emotion, fearful, angry, lonely. Create a poster as illustrated.
Create a Routine
Develop a self-help routine just like you would a workout routine. Make applying the information you learn a regular occurrence.
Start slowly and you will build habits that get you results. You may require professional help to get yo started.
Most of us know how to solve the majority of our most pressing issues. We just can’t figure out how to get ourselves to take action consistently.
New habits are a challenge to establish. Taking 2 steps forward and one step back is not unusual, the important thing is to start and from this you will gain experience and realise that there are other options than running the treadmill you are currently on.
In the end, success is about using your time wisely each day. You can’t help but get great results if you perform effective actions over and over.
Goal Setting – Start Slowly
Focus on making small changes. Set SMART goals https://jilliesblog.com/setting-smart-goals/ witch are achievable.
Basically Self Help is the first step in taking control of your life and recognising when and if you need to implement minor or major changes to live to your full potential.
I would be interested in knowing how you go!
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