Seven top tips to manage challenging situations

FROM THE WCIG ALLIED HEALTH SERVICES TEAM 

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Life can sometimes present us with challenging, stressful and even confronting situations. The way we respond when faced with these scenarios can have a big impact on our mental health, stress levels and overall quality of life. 

We all have to find ways to cope when feeling overwhelmed, even professionals who work with mental health regularly. To provide some insights into how the experts manage this, WCIG’s Allied Health team has used their combined knowledge to put together their seven top tips based on what normally helps them. 

The tips below are simple yet effective strategies that members of the Allied Health team have adapted to their own lifestyles based on their knowledge, learning, and experience. Feel free to try one, multiple, or all of the below and share with any friends or family who may find it helpful.  

Tip 1: Find moments of creativity and awe in your environment

When faced with a difficult or stressful situation, sometimes the best thing to do is to take a quick break or breather to help us reset. Immersing ourselves in a totally different environment, which allows our mind to find moments of creativity, wonder, or awe, can reduce stress and worry. 

This time spent away from the problem itself can also activate different brain elements, which may allow us to find a solution to our problem more easily when we return to it later. 

Some places to start with this include being around:

• Nature
• Art
• Culture
• Any other places we find inspiring.

In these environments, it is important to allow our minds to wander and daydream so that they can generate their own inspiration. 

Tip 2: Deep breathing exercises

Deep breathing is a good way to reduce tension in the body and promote a greater sense of calm. Drawing attention to your breathing also helps you focus more on the present situation and less on worrying or stressful thoughts.   

In addition, our respiratory system controls our breathing, which has a direct impact on our heart rate and nervous systems. If we focus on slowing our breathing and taking deep and controlled breaths, we can slow down our heart rate and activate the part of our nervous system designed to help us feel relaxed and calm (known as the parasympathetic nervous system). 

To start, try: 

• Inhaling or breathing in for four seconds
• Holding your breath for four seconds
• Exhaling or breathing out for four seconds
• Holding for four seconds
• Repeat the above steps four times each

Tip 3: Commit to value-based action

When faced with challenging situations, we often feel overwhelmed by our thoughts and emotions, leading to periods of overthinking or other unhelpful behaviours. One way to work through this is to step back from the situation by reminding ourselves of our values and what is important to us. 

Values help guide us toward meaningful action and a full and rewarding life. Reflecting on our values and how we can apply them to our current situation can help us move forward. 

To start with this, it can be helpful to understand our values. Is it something such as family, adventure, friends, or resilience? Or are there other values that resonate more with us as individuals? Once we know our values, we can write them down somewhere where we can reflect on them as needed. 

When faced with a challenging situation, we can try using our asking: 

• Why do I sometimes put myself under pressure, and for what purpose?
• How can I best tackle what is in front of me in a way that aligns with my values or change my focus towards something that may be more important to me?

Tip 4: Be mindful when in nature

A common solution to dealing with stress that we often hear is to go for a walk. Whilst this does have its own great benefits, we can level up by choosing to do so in an environment surrounded by trees, grass, and flowers and being totally immersed and present in these moments. 

Being mindful or placing all our attention on the present moment and the nature around us can help us feel calmer and more relaxed. 

Some of the causes for this are that when we find ourselves facing a challenging situation, we can often be caught up in thinking about the past (the things that have gone wrong) or the future (the things that might go wrong). What we are doing now is not as bad as what we are thinking. 

To achieve this, we can try to: 

• Find a nice spot in nature full of trees, grass and flowers
• Use our eyes to observe everything we are seeing
• Use our ears to focus on all the sounds we are hearing
• Use our noses to take in the smell of our environment
• Use our hands (and feet if barefoot) to feel the grass and leaves.

Tip 5: Break down the challenge into small, manageable tasks

Often, the entirety of the challenge in front of us may feel too large to conquer. Breaking this down into smaller, step-by-step tasks is a great way to get started on tackling the issue. This can also help us identify what is in our control right now and what small steps we can concentrate on that will take us towards a solution.  

Using this approach to working through some of the challenges we are facing may also help us build motivation, feel a sense of accomplishment, and boost our confidence as we go. 

Some strategies to help with breaking the challenge down include: 

• Identifying the overall end goal
• Making a list of all the required steps
• Setting timelines and dates for when to complete each step
• Ticking off each step on the list as it is completed
• Celebrating the progress being made.

Tip 6: Find positive affirmations from yourself and others

Positive affirmations are short statements that promote positive self-thinking and challenge negative thoughts. Having this reinforcement is essential as when faced with tough times in life, we can experience self-doubt, reduced confidence, and a lack of self-esteem can decrease our ability to show resilience. 

If we are fortunate enough to have trustworthy people in our lives, we may be able to use them for this support. Reaching out to these people, talking through the challenges we face, and leaning on them for encouragement and reassurance can help us work through stressful moments. 

However, we may not always have people we can talk to at any given time to reinforce their support, so in this case, we need to provide ourselves with positive affirmations. 

A great place to start could include saying out loud phrases like: 

“I am doing my best!”

“I believe in myself!”

“I am resilient!” 

“I am proud of myself!” 

Tip 7: Diffuse from overwhelming thoughts

Our thoughts can often heighten our emotions and make it more difficult for us to navigate challenging situations. Being stuck on one particular line of thought for an excessive amount of time is known as rumination. Ruminating can sometimes prevent us from taking action to resolve the problem, or if the problem is out of our control, it can prevent us from putting our time and energy into more meaningful activities.  

To help manage periods of rumination or overthinking, we can use what is known as ‘Diffusion’. Diffusion can help distance us from our thoughts and focus more on important actions. 

Some simple diffusion techniques you can try including: 

• Noticing and naming the thought out loud
• “I am noticing I am having the thought that…”
• Thanking your mind
• “Thank you for giving me this thought because…!”
• Repeating the thought out loud by
• Using an accent or silly voice
• Singing the thought
• Saying the thought out loud repeatedly

Key Takeaways

Experiencing difficult situations is something we all face. To support navigating this, the Allied Health team have provided seven top tips for things that work for them based on their knowledge and experience when going through challenging experiences. These tips are simple strategies that anyone can try to see if they make a difference or pass on to anyone else who may be going through tough times themselves.