Identifying Coping Mechanisms And How To Change The Negative Ones
For a first look into Trader Wellness we are going to focus on coping mechanisms. We have touched a bit on bad habits in the past in our articles, and while coping mechanisms can be a bad habit, they also can be used in a way to improve our lives. Simply defined by the APA (American Psychological Association) a coping mechanism is “any conscious or nonconscious adjustment or adaptation that decreases tension and anxiety in a stressful experience or situation.” They can be tied to more intricate coping behavior and coping strategies which can involve an automatic action or set of actions at the beginning of a stressful moment. To put in more trendy terms, it is something you do when you are triggered.
All of us form coping mechanisms throughout our lives, and many of them are neutral or even beneficial, the issue comes in when a coping mechanism becomes something psychologically or physically damaging to ourselves and others. Traders are especially prey to developing negative coping mechanisms because we rely so much on ourselves. It is you making the decision to buy and sell and no one else is to blame if something goes not according to plan. This type of stress and guilt can push you into many solitary coping mechanisms such as overindulging in food and drink or other substances, even overworking your body at the gym or punishing yourself in other ways for making a bad decision.
The real trick here is identifying when a coping mechanism becomes a problem. Since we all have coping mechanisms of some form and they are in the end something that can help us, it isn't a matter of getting rid of them but making sure they are healthy. What makes a healthy coping mechanism? Of course we all know that something like meditation or breathing exercises are healthy coping mechanisms but what about grey behaviors that neither seem completely harmful or good? First and the most obvious is that it doesn't put you or anyone else in immediate danger. Engaging in risky or violent behavior is obviously not a healthy one. The less obvious are the ones that don't immediately cause harm. Of course we know smoking or drinking is something that should be done in moderation if at all but what about subtle punishing behaviors? Not allowing yourself something you want or overworking yourself as a form of punishment or to avoid thinking about something, while not dangerous, is not healthy. It can cause strains on your relationships with others and start affecting your self esteem and image.
A good way to test if these grey coping mechanisms are damaging or not is to record how you feel after engaging in these activities. Start this exercise by recording all the coping mechanisms you know you have. If you are having a problem identifying them, ask loved ones what you do when you are stressed out and see if they offer any insights. You can also pay attention to your behaviors the next time you have a stressful day. Once you have made a list of what your coping behaviors are you can probably very easily divide out the obviously healthy and unhealthy ones and focus on the in between ones. Try to recall how you feel after engaging in one of these grey behaviors, do you feel better, worse, down on yourself? Ask loved ones if you are pleasant after one of these behaviors and record their responses. From here you should have a good idea if these behaviors need modification.
So what do you do with the behaviors you now know are bad? Of course the goal is to remove them from your life, but it may be easier said than done depending on how dependent you are on the behavior. If you are not immediately able to switch out the behavior for a more beneficial one, try keeping a list of all the reasons why you don't want to engage in this behavior anymore on your phone. Every time you feel tempted to stray, pull out this list and remind yourself why it isn't a good idea. It won't be an overnight success, but with these reminders and switching out for more beneficial behaviors you can begin yourself on the journey of getting rid of these bad coping mechanisms. Visit our blog at https://www.bullionite.com/blog-index each week for the next part of the series. Reach out to us at info@bullionite.com with your comments and questions!