Page 35 - Vision Manual

Stress is an inevitable part of life. It prompts us to make changes, to adapt, and can help us perform more effectively. Not all stress is bad, as some stresses come as a result of desirable changes. Moving to a better home, getting a new job, meeting new friends are all events that are stressful to most people, and are oftentimes beneficial at the same time. Learning how to cope with stress is very important, especially when considering that stress and mental health symptoms are so closely related. The skills described below will help you learn how to reduce stress and tolerate distress when it is present so that you can remain effective and work through difficult moments.
Distractions
Sometimes we are experiencing stressors that result in intense distress that make it difficult to deal with the moment. To make things even more challenging, we may have stress over things that we have little or no power over in the moment. Financial worries, troubled family members, arguments that we can’t resolve because the other person is unwilling or not present, cold or dreary weather- these are all examples of things that cause stress that we may not be able to deal with because there’s nothing to be done. Sometimes, in order to cope with these sorts of distress, we need to distract ourselves. The goal with distractions as a skill is to take our attention away from the source of distress so that we feel less distress and can then return to problem solving or working on the distress.
A handy acronym for thinking about ways to distract is ACCEPTS.
Activities Contributing Comparisons Emotions Push Away Thoughts Sensations
Each of these methods of distraction is outlined below:
Activities are things you do that help keep your mind off of the stressor and that keep you active, ideally both physically and mentally. There can be a wide variety of different things that you can do that fall under the umbrella of “activities”, and these can include
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