7. What Now_

Welcome back to the top mental health toolspart seven. What now in this final part, Robert will help us make a simple,clear plan for how to put these tools into action.

[00:00:26] I'm feeling overwhelmed by thenumber of things that I can do. How would you suggest approaching these toolsand using these tools in a way that's not overwhelming? So a lot of people getoverwhelmed. Understandably, when you get deep into all the different copingskills that are out there, because there are a lot of different things that youcan do, which is great, you have options, but it can feel overwhelming.

[00:00:47] You know, am I supposed to everysingle day journal, find my thinking traps, do deep breathing, practice,mindfulness, go for a run. You know, do all of these things. The answer is no,you're not supposed to do all of these things all the time. What you want to dois look at the sort of buffet of different coping skills that are out there andcompare it to your life.

[00:01:05] What are the areas that would bemost helpful for you? If you're finding that you're struggling a whole lot withjust being physiologically wound up, then breathing exercises are probablywhere you need to start. If you're getting into trouble, because you'reconstantly misinterpreting what people are saying to you and taking that toheart, then you want to focus immediately on like the, the thinking traps andthe strategies to deal with that.

[00:01:25] If you're finding that you'rescattered and all over the place, and can't reign in your thinking, then maybeyou need to start with the mindfulness. And for any of these things,essentially what you're doing is you're teaching yourself how to use this tool,how to use this coping strategy. And, you know, you'll practice it maybeseveral times a week to start off with, and then pull off a little bit,practice it, maybe once a week, whatever the case may be for that particularskill, but then you back off from it and it sort of fizzles out.

[00:01:49] And I do this myself, you know,I don't journal every single day, but there are definitely periods of timewhere I'm journaling. Every single day for a few weeks, because that's the sortof tune up that my brain needs to get back on track and then it sort of fadesoff, but you still have the knowledge of what that does for you.

[00:02:03] You still have the knowledge of,you know, going through those ABC thought logs, what that does forreinterpreting situation. You know, maybe you need to do it in a very rote sortof way every day. Five different things. And then eventually you back off fromthat, and it just becomes an internalized sense in the back of your mind, thendown the line, you realize, okay, I'm definitely slipping back into thinkingtrap territory.

[00:02:22] Let's pull back out thenotebook, let's start going through those ABCs again. And then you get backinto the group and you can let it go again. So none of these things are thingsthat you need to do religiously every day, all the time. It's very muchdependent on what your situation is and which of these are going to be the mostimpactful things for what you're going through.

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