Create my Coping Bank

Alright, so I was supposed to some pages from the Coping Book weeks ago but I didn’t. Here’s my favorite page. I can’t figure out how to post more than one. I’ll post more later.

I’ve done 5 pages so far. I’ll try to take some pix and upload them. When I go to see DoggyMommy I get about 2-3 pages done per night, so to finish the initial book I have about 4-5 night of work left (plus the cover, which I haven’t done yet). I plan to put my favorite coping quote on the cover: “Take the good times gratefully and the bad times gracefully,” which is a slight re-wording of a quote from Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. It reminds me that even the happiest people have bad days and that happiness comes and goes. If we take the bad times gracefully, they will pass more quickly anyway.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since DoggyMommy and I are working on this together, and I think a book of options rather than a bank might work better. A little bit ago I started a list of things to put in the coping bank and now I look at it when I need it and it helps. So I was thinking I could make a really cool book, all decorated and stuff, with my coping mechanisms, instead of a bank.

I found this online and I think it might help me handle down times better. For those of you who are interested, this is what it is:

Make Your Own Coping Bank

We take the money we earn and put it in the bank for when we need it. We take the monitary gifts we get from others and sock it away in our piggy banks or bank accounts for a rainy day or for times of need.

A Coping Bank is the same—we take what we learn about coping alternatives and put them away, in the backs of our minds, for when we needs them. But during recovery that can be difficult, and during times of crisis it’s often hard to think of what we should do. Make your own Coping Bank and you can go and make a withdrawal when you are feeling stressed, overwhelmed, confused (etc.) and in need of healthy ways to handle it.

How to do it:

1. Use a shoebox, an old piggy bank, a tupperware container, a juice bottle—it should be something you can cut a slit in to make your deposits, but that is easily opened so you can make withdrawals when you have to.

Decorate the item you chose with magic markers, crayons, paper, buttons, ribbon, photos of loved-ones, affirmations, fabric, cartoon characters, anything you like!

Cut a small slit somewhere in the top or side of your item—this is where you will make deposits.

Write a whole bunch of healthy coping alternatives on small sheets of colored paper (like construction paper, stationary, old greeting cards, index cards). Here are some examples…

Write in your Journal

Listen to your favorite music

Write at least 5 affirmations
Color in a coloring book

Play your favorite instrument

Tell one person how you feel

Pop or stomp on bubble-wrap

Have a water balloon fight

Paint a picture

Take a long hot bath

Go berry picking

Take a long drive

Take a leisurely walk

Rent your favorite movie

Take a trip to the toy store

Fingerpaint, Doodle

Build with blocks. Build a tower and knock it down

Build with Legos

Spend time with your pet

more ways to cope…
Come up with your own too!
Take all these little sheets of paper and deposit them into your bank. You can always add more as time goes on, you can make deposits whenever the mood strikes you! You should initially try to get at least ten to fifteen ideas in your bank.

Place you Coping Bank on your dresser, next to your bed, in your china cabinet—someplace easily accessible and where you’ll know where it is.

Make a mental committment to yourself to go to your Coping Bank when you need to!

Next time you are feeling sad, angry, overwhelmed, confused, or stressed-out, and need to find healthy ways to cope, go to your Coping Bank and make a withdrawal. Pull out one of those sheets of paper and do what it says! (remember to put it back in your bank after you’ve read it, so it’s there for the future).