Distraction Coping Skills: The Coping Box Series Part 3

Welcome to part three of my series on creating a coping box! Today’s installment is about distraction coping skills.

What are distraction coping skills?

Distraction coping skills are used when it is too difficult to face your emotions in the current moment. They are used to de-escalate your feelings to a level that is safe for you to deal with.

It is not advised to only use distraction coping skills because at some point you do need to process your emotions and allow yourself to feel.

However, it is a good option to have these skills for when expressive coping skills feel too overwhelming to think about.

Distraction coping skills for a coping box

Here are a few examples of distraction coping skills that you can put in a coping box:

1. Mind puzzles: Think of games like sudoku or crossword puzzles. These require a lot of mental energy to complete and therefore are a great distraction. My favorite are word searches.
2. Friendship bracelet supplies or other craft supplies: These keep your hands busy which is a great way to distract yourself.
3. Playlist of songs: It’s important to pick songs for your playlist that won’t keep you stuck in your unhappy state. Think of songs that make you feel like singing and dancing. Add those songs.
4. Gift cards: If you have a tendency to want to buy things when you’re sad, this can be a really good idea because it keeps you on a budget. You can only spend the amount on the gift card, so you aren’t going to spend money you don’t really have. You can buy a few gift cards here and there for yourself if it’s in your budget, or you could save any you get as gifts from others.
5. Book or religious text: Reading can be a great distraction from your current situation. Whether you prefer fiction, nonfiction, or religious texts, it’s a great way to keep your mind occupied and allow those difficult feelings to pass.
6. Playing cards: Teach yourself some new card tricks or learn how to play solitaire if you don’t already know.
7. Rubik’s cube: You can teach yourself the algorithm to solve it quickly if you want and see how fast you can get, or do it the long way if you’re not interested in learning an algorithm. It keeps your hands and mind occupied.
8. Write activities down on color coded popsicle sticks: I have activities color coded by what unpleasant emotion I want to go away. For example, calling a friend helps when I am feeling lonely. Make all the popsicle sticks for loneliness the same color so you can draw whatever color/feeling you are hoping to alleviate. This is good for activities that don’t really fit inside your coping box.

Some final thoughts

Thanks for joining me on this journey of creating a coping box. I hope you have found some new ideas that work for you.

Make sure to try and include things from each section (expressive, sensory, and distraction) in your coping box.

Did you miss one of the other posts in this series? You can find expressive coping skills here, and sensory coping skills here.

I hope you enjoyed this final part in my series on creating a coping box. As always, please leave a comment or share a link on social media if you enjoyed this post. You can always contact me here.

Until next time,

Danna