Empower Yourself: Learn To Cope

As a young person, you experience stress at at school, among friends and other activities. You also react to stress in your family. It is important to recognize this stress and adopt healthy coping strategies that will help today and in your life as an adult.

Generally, anything that may cause fear and anxiety can cause stress. This can include being away from home, going on to college or a job, moving to a new location, being separated from parents or caregivers, getting along with others or worrying about grades and worrying about your future.

Being Your Best

Each one of us is unique and every person sees and relates to the world differently.  So what is considered mentally healthy varies for each one of us.  The traits below are typically shared by people who experience success in their lives.  See how you relate to the list and share your feelings with someone you trust.

1. Self Esteem Do you value yourself?  While all of us enjoy receiving praise, people with a good sense of self-esteem know their own value and don’t always rely on others to tell them they are worthwhile.
2. Life’s Challenges Are you able to “roll with the punches”? Successful people are able to handle challenges at each stage of life, even though they may be temporarily put off by them.
3. Flexibility Are you flexible or do you always have to be right? Successful people are able to make mistakes, accept the as mistakes and not moral failings, and admit to them readily.
4. Acknowledge Feelings Are you aware of your feelings?  Do you allow yourself to experience them without judging them as good or bad?  We all have feelings that sometimes seem irrational, but successful people are able to acknowledge them and move on instead of denying their existence.
5. Accept Responsibility Can you accept responsibility for what you do or the choices you make?  While it’s human nature to make excuses once in a while, successful people are able to accept responsibility for themselves and their actions.  At the same time, they refrain from denying responsibility or blaming others.
6. Ask For Help Can you ask for help?  Sometimes it’s hard for us to admit we can’t solve a problem ourselves. Successful people learn to be successful by asking for and getting  help if they need it.

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