Every aspect of life requires some formula which should be followed as a guideline to brew a tasty remedy that’ll serve a positive purpose in your life, leaving you fully refreshed and revitalised. Take a pancake recipe for example, you must follow the instructions as stipulated in order to get them soft and fluffy, of course serve them with syrup to pat yourself on the back and put the cherry on top. Alternatively you could take a more practically brutal example, if you’re not a foodie like me, such as taking your driver’s licence test. This is a rather hard example to use because it’s plain and simple. If you don’t adhere to the rules of the road or the management of the internal car gear systems as stipulated by the legislation, you fail. There. Done.

This is all the same for your physical and mental health. There are just those particular things that you cannot ignore and must make certain to, or at least try to, keep up to date with and regularly check whether the screw is tightly screwed on or not. In all honesty, the looser the screw gets the harder and more draining it’ll be getting it back into place. Which is why we all need to have a little tool box to assist us in regards of keeping it all intact and in place.

What are psychological survival skills?

This is your tool box to improve your understanding of your self-awareness and self-expression when it comes to the dealings of yourself and those around you. This includes your environment and any change therein, your stress levels, as well as your goal settings and achievements. These skills tend to have the power to help you familiarise yourself with the management of certain aspects in your life. They include, but are not limited to, social awareness, interpersonal relationships and the improvement of your emotional management and regulation which in turn enhances your ability to have a somewhat workable model which will enhance your self motivation abilities.

Survival skills are a mandatory part of your journey of recovery as they enhance your emotional and mental stability in process. With strengthened emotional stability, your entire coping mechanism structure changes and will most certainly affect other aspects of your health in various ways:

• Your boundaries will come into light for you to put in place rationally and effectively,
• You can work on your love languages to improve your relationships with others,
• You can get creative for the purposes of Art Therapy to enhance mindfulness,
• You can familiarize yourself with and/or spot tendencies of emotional blackmail,
• Assertiveness will follow through,
• Stress will be easier to identify,
• You’ll have more energy, who knows? Perhaps you’ll hit the gym soon

What can I do to implement these skills?

The above stated are just a few examples of what having a coping mechanism structure can assist you with. You have to be consistent at all times, when possible, and have a positive mindset in the dealings of these mechanisms. When days are dark and you feel nothing can assist you or no one understands, take a glance at these resources below. No, they are not sad stories that’ll leave you feeling worse of. They are instead empowering and educational posts by other bloggers, articles, and literature pieces. What’s life without a little poetic justice?

• How to improve your mental wellbeing
• Paint, sculpt or colour your way to relaxation
• What is Mindfulness? ( And what does it mean to you? ) 
• The South African Depression and Anxiety Group
• Inspirational Poems, Healthy Place

Contact details that’ll come in handy should you find yourself in crisis:

• South African Depression and Anxiety Group: 0800 708 090
• Suicide Crisis Line: 0800 567 567 or SMS 31393
• LifeLine South Africa: 0860 322 322/011 728 1347
• ChildLine South Africa: 0800 055 555