How to Get Through Impossible Moments

because life is really hard sometimes

Have you had the opportunity to practice your TIPP skills?

Using distraction is a first line tactic to calm yourself when you need relief. It is the first go-to, especially if you feel panic-y about needing to chill out quickly. In last week’s post, we covered several examples of distraction, so review them and put a note in your phone or on your desktop because sometimes one might work better than another.

At a certain point though, once you’ve gotten good at using skills to manage emotional overwhelm and tolerate being in difficult situations, we need to move beyond distraction. Distracting from difficulties is a short-term solution so we are able to return to the problem later in a better headspace to sort through longer-term solutions. If distraction is the ONLY tool we are using, we end up missing out on life, distracting from one thing after another. Ideally, we get to a place where we don’t have to just continually distract, distract, distract.

Coping Thoughts

In moments when you are able to stay present with the distressing situation, choose more supportive, coping thoughts, or what Marsha Linehan (creator of DBT) called Supportive Statements.

Examples include: