This week we learned about PROBLEMATIC AVOIDANCE: ignoring or avoiding facing our problems to avoid uncomfortable thoughts and feelings.
Here's a quick review of how trying to avoid feeling stress can actually INCREASE our stress.
Avoiding anxiety or discomfort can create a vicious cycle that actually increases our stress in the long term.
You may feel more stressed about a problem the longer you avoid it.
Avoidance doesn’t solve the actual problem creating the stress, so the problem remains.
Not facing a problem may create more problems, like a chain reaction.
Avoidance may cause difficulties in relationships if others become frustrated by your avoidance.
You also learned some tips for reducing problematic avoidance:
Recognize when you are avoiding discomfort.
Use stress reduction techniques to manage stress (deep breathing, exercise, etc).
Learn to cope with uncomfortable emotions. If you get use to discomfort, you will be more able to face problems in the future.
Using active coping skills, such as changing your thoughts and problem solving.
Take small steps in situations that feel overwhelming.
Ask someone you trust to hold you accountable for following through with tasks.
Practice good communication skills in your relationships and resolve conflicts when they arise
You were also introduced to a new tool to help you FACE your problems instead of avoiding them:
face worksheet.pdf
Now that you've had the opportunity to practice FACE-ing something you had been avoiding, the following questions will give you a chance to reflect on this experience.
Be sure to read the all the directions carefully before answering the questions!
Be sure to complete all sections and click submit at the bottom to get credit for this Virtual CBI session!
(Technical Tip: If you get a white screen after you click "next" or "submit", SCROLL UP. The next page is further up on the screen.)