Create a Coping Menu
By now you may have accumulated a number of coping strategies during quarantine. However, many people find that it is one thing to come up with self-care ideas, and a whole different challenge to actually engage in them. This is where a coping menu can help. The goal of creating a coping menu is to write down your list of coping strategies and organize them by the relative ease it takes to engage in them. For example, your “appetizer” section would list strategies that are easy to engage in and don’t require a lot of time and effort. Your “entrée” section would include tools that require a bit more effort and time to use, and your “dessert” section is where you list your ideal self-care strategies. I would recommend you put this list on your phone or save it as the background on your computer, so it is easily accessible. Having all the options in front of you is a helpful reminder to integrate coping regularly so that when you have a free moment or are feeling distressed, you can jump right into action rather than trying to come up with an idea on how to cope.