On the go? Listen to The Stress Less Show as a Podcast!
Coping mechanisms, we all have them. While sometimes coping mechanisms are useful tools in helping us process the stress in our day, some coping mechanisms end up doing more harm than good. Maybe it's food, maybe it's wine, maybe it's shopping, maybe it's TV - whatever it is, it's important for us to check-in and let go of coping mechanisms in our lives that we find no longer help us. That is why I brought on Th Stress Less Show this week life coach and owner of Eau Claire Sober Living, Michelle Markquart, to share her tips on how to let go of unhealthy coping mechanisms in order to make room for healthier ones.
Michelle's personal journey in creating healthier coping mechanisms began over four years ago when she started on her path towards recovery from alcohol. Now sober, her recovery has helped her not only connect to her health and become a pro bodybuilder but also has put her on a path to help others improve their lives as well.
“Really what I've learned is just how to build a life that supports the life that I want.”
Through her work on herself and now as a life coach, Michelle has gained a much more nuanced perspective on the concept of recovery and have seen how recovery can be found for all kinds of people beyond just what we typically associate with the term.
“All of us try to escape reality and the stresses of life and everything. It's just a matter of what way are we choosing and how far are we taking it.”
With all of her experience, Michelle has come up with a few tips that she is come on the show to share with all of us to help as we work to let go of our unhealthy coping mechanisms and find healthy coping mechanisms that support the life and person we want to be.
Tip #1: Just start where you are
Michelle's first tip is so crucial when it comes to beginning to challenge our negative coping mechanisms. Often, we spend so much time beating ourselves up for the things that we are doing, that we lose sight of our ability to actually just choose to start where we are in creating new habits.
“Go and say I'm going to do this for me. It's amazing how much better you feel when you just start”
Even if starting where we are means just taking one step in the direction of our yoga mat or putting on our workout clothes first thing in the morning, whatever we can do to start moving in the direction of taking care of ourselves is going to help us break out of our typical cycle and challenge us to let go of coping mechanisms that we fall back on.
Tip #2: Schedule your time every week
Once we have finally begun to start implementing healthier habits, Michelle stresses that the key to implementing them for lasting success is to make these healthy coping mechanisms a habit.
“Our lives are just a series of habits. So I'm either in the habit of getting up and exercising or I'm not.”
That's why her last tip is to start scheduling is healthier habits into our daily lives. Whether this looks like just a few minutes every other day or even once a week, the goal is to give ourselves the space to show up for us consistently so that we start building the mindset of living a healthier lifestyle.