Having things that help us fit in at home is great – but what about it When we leave the house? many of us Struggling with out. The world can be an overwhelming nightmare, sensual, place for people. Putting together a stand-up kit “on the go” allows us to have that little box, briefcase or safety bag that we can take with us wherever we go.
The look of our coping toolkit
Before we make our own coping set, we need to think about what form it might take. Some may want to make a craft kit – a laundry bag/makeup bag or pencil case to put in our main bag, a drawstring bag in the car, or a small box in our office drawing (top tip: BuddyBox Boxes are often the perfect size!). Others will have a little less craft kit, and keep things in every pocket, bag, and sketch.
where are you going?
When thinking about what to include in our group, we need to think about the main places to go. We may regularly visit many different places. Alternatively, we might leave the house once or twice in a good week and just go to two different locations.
Make a list of each regular place, and add to it when another one comes to your mind.
What are you doing?
It’s important to think about what we do when we’re out and about because some things will be appropriate for some environments but not others. If we can’t use something in a certain environment, it’s time to get creative and think of something we can replace it with.
What are your challenges?
We all struggle with different things. Some find open spaces incredibly daunting, others feel claustrophobic in crowds.
Choose a list of places and write down the feelings associated with one of them. Think about what triggers those feelings. We may not know the trigger. We may need to chat with someone To help us solve a problem that can be time consuming, but knowing why we struggle with certain things can help us put together our own coping toolkit to meet this challenge.
Dealing with sensory input
our senses It can affect how we feel. We are all different when it comes to inputs that help and inputs that definitely don’t. It can take some time work with it.
Are we the ones who get overwhelmed with noise, or do we just love it? Do smells make us feel sick, or do they relax us? Does tasting something give us focus or increase our anxiety?
Many of us will be more sensitive to certain things when anxious, so it’s worth keeping that in mind as well.
Additional considerations
In addition to what we’re going into, what we’re doing, and sensory input, it’s helpful to think about whether anything else is affecting our ability to deal with the outside world.
no shortage Sleeps Exacerbate our sensory sensitivities? Does the wind make us feel nauseous and dizzy? Are we able to cope when our dog is walking, but not when we are walking alone? Does heat exacerbate our anxiety? Does gathering in layers during cold weather make us feel like we can’t breathe?
Thinking about these things helps us tailor our on-the-go adaptive kit to our individual needs.
fidget
Fidgeting can be amazing when it comes to handling on the go.
There are a lot of different movement tools available, and most people will have some that they like better than others. Some of the available ones include fidget cubes tangleAnd the Twist and lock blocksAnd the UrduOr 3D printed items or fidget discs.
Prices range a lot. Oftentimes, we can find a version of fidget in the pocket money sections of toy stores or even places like Etsy. Trying a few different things, at first, can help us figure out our preferences. Once we know those who help, we can take them everywhere. Pockets, glove box, desk, kitchen pulls, bags…everywhere, so that there is always one available.
Chews
Many of us chew. Whether it’s our pen cap, our fingernails, ice from a drink, a wrapper, or something else, we often chew.
If we want to stop chewing everything we normally get, we can try chewing gum or to chew. Chewables are items designed specifically for chewing. Some, like pencil caps, are more subtle than others. They often come in different ‘strengths’ for chewing depending on how hard you chew. It can take a little trial and error to figure out the right type and strength for us.
Aromatherapy
Some of us find the scents earthy and soothing.
Rollerballs great; They’re super portable and come in many different scents, so we should be able to find scents we love. They usually have a very concentrated scent, and once the cap is on, they shouldn’t make everything around them smell either. nebulizer They work similarly, but as we can constrain the rotating balls to our pulse points, the nebulizers will be more dispersed.
Small lavender sachets (or similar if lavender isn’t our thing) are portable and can have a strong scent, which some people find useful. Just be aware that where we can put a lid on a spray or a rollerball, the smelly bags may make everything else in our kit smell too.
Hot drinks can be comforting, not only for warmth and taste, but also for aroma. We can’t pour a hot drink into our kit, but we can keep a stash of cool-downs for emergencies tea bags or similar.
the taste
Certain tastes relax us, reminding us of times of calm and happiness. We may associate them with a place or person who feels safe. Sticking a few sweets, chewing gum, or anything else with a long shelf life in our on-the-go acclimatization kit means that in times of stress, we can throw them out and use relish to fix them ourselves.
We can also try lip balm. In addition to tasting something more often, the sensation of putting it on can be soothing.
sound handling
Some of us enjoy silence. Others need noise.
Environmental noise, for those of us who are sensitive to noise, can be an enormous, sometimes unnoticeable, worry-free. Some of us find earplugs useful, but we don’t always want to remove all the noise. Noise canceling headphones are great because if we don’t play anything through them, we can still have conversations while wearing them.
Episodes And the torches It also aims to remove background noise and reduce noise sensitivity. They are often thinner than headphones. They can get a little used, so we may want to practice with them before we put them in our group.
If we like to listen to things, keeping some unbroken headphones in our collection is great, because it’s awful when we get anxious, and we reach for our headphones broken. Create a playlist or use an app like “calmThe app can remove the decision-making element to listen to things.
light handling
If we are hypersensitive to light, fluorescent lighting in stores and offices can be very painful. Keeping a pair of sunglasses in our acclimatization kit may be a must. We may feel a little weird wearing sunglasses indoors, but sometimes there’s something better than the noise of a fluorescent light.
We can think of colored lenses. If we can afford it, make an appointment with a behavioral ophthalmologist It can make a big difference. They should be able to test colors that work for us, and they may be able to offer other things that help the world seem less “busy”.
If that’s not possible, we can try a generic pair of tinted glasses or clip-on lenses. It may take some trial and error to find the color that is most effective for us, but once we find the difference it makes in our anxiety levels it can be amazing.
texture
many of us self-soothing Using blankets or cloth. In addition to being aware of the clothes we are wearing, there are other items that we can bring as part of our kit.
If we have a car, keeping blankets in the car is great, because they are always there for those times you need them. We can keep one in our bag if our bag is big too. Socks with slippers are more portable than blankets. It’s an easy addition to your on-the-go stand-up toolkit; A convenient way to add some extra comfort.
If we’re someone who finds textures particularly soothing, adding one or a few squares of fabrics we love to our collection makes them available on the go. When we need it, we can put it in our pockets and use it our own land And calm down.
Distraction Coping Tools
There are times when what we really need is to be Distracted from the environment around us. As long as we are safe, they can help us get through difficult situations, such as sitting on a train. Distractions that we can keep in our Coping Kit include Card PacksAnd the booksbooks, puzzles, or other things make and do.
Food and drink
worry is exhausting It can do unconventional things to your blood sugar levels. Some of us notice this more than others. Keeping a few snacks in our group can not only be a tool for pausing and a moment to keep up with ourselves, but also help with any blood sugar issues we’re having.
If we have drinks we like, we can’t pour them into our kit, but we can guarantee they’re easily available. We can add some of our favorite tea bags to our collection. Squash (the drink) sometimes comes in small, portable, juicy bottles. A water bottle in the car or our bag never spoils.
practical things
Keeping a little money in our group can help ensure that we can always buy a drink and/or food as needed, even if we forget to increase our selection of snacks. It can also provide peace of mind, should anything go wrong.
Our phone’s backup battery pack is another handy component of the kit, especially if listening to apps or podcasts with the phone is one of our coping tools.
Those abstract things
Some of the things we deal with are really “stuff”, it’s a bit more abstract.
We can’t add ‘deep breathingto our group, but what we can do, is add prompts. A few different cards with an emotion on top and coping ideas below can help in times when we just can’t think. We may find it useful to have a list of the numbers of people we can contact. When we are anxious, we may struggle to remember what to do, so having lists of “what to do when…” gives us something tangible to follow. These prompts can be generated prevent us from escaping By giving us something to hold on to.
Adjustment kit for children
It is not only the adults who struggle, Children can also.
Creating our own coping kit along with our child helps normalize it and means we can share ideas – maybe we’re thinking of things the other wouldn’t!
It is important that our child always knows how to access his toolkit. Whether it’s hanging on the back of a car seat, in a pencil case in their purse, or in a box by the front door, they need it readily available.
Emergency handling
Sometimes, things go wrong. There are times when Our struggles intensify and we need helps. that emergency plan In our coping group that can be the difference between getting the help we need, and not getting it.
We can have one for ourselves with the steps we can follow and the numbers we can call, but it can also be helpful to have something that communicates our needs to someone else. A credit card-sized card bearing our name, phone numbers, and helpful needs can help us maintain control even if we’re in a situation where we can’t communicate as effectively as we’d like.
Building your toolkit on the go takes time. It is not a stagnant group. It changes and grows with us as we change and grow. We can’t magically solve our difficulties when we go out (how cool!), but we can do things to help us cope.
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