Coping Strategies
Living and working in another country, especially in the beginning, is a series of stressful events, interspersed with occasional periods of calm. For the most part, this stress is the result of the myriad adjustments you have to make, from the trivial to the profound, as you do the following:
- learn new ways of doing things;
- learn to do things you've never done before;
- stop doing things you can no longer do;
- adjust to an entirely new set of people;
- learn to live and work in an environment where you speak a foreign language;
- get used to various new and unusual phenomena;
- learn to live without all kinds of familiar phenomena.
Everyone has experienced stress before and has developed strategies for coping with it. This exercise is designed to remind you of some of your strategies and to help you think of others you may find useful in your new setting.
| Under the five categories listed below, write your ideas and suggestions for what you can do to cope with stress.
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Notice that "Ways I Can Improve My Language Skills" is listed as its own category. Strictly speaking, improving your language skills is simply one more coping technique that could fall under the category of Things I Can Do On My Own, but it is such an important technique, with so many specific possibilities, that it has been elevated to a place of its own.
THINGS I CAN DO WITH OTHER PEOPLE
THINGS I CAN DO ON MY OWN
THINGS I CAN REMIND MYSELF OF
WAYS I CAN IMPROVE MY LANGUAGE SKILLS
THINGS I HAVE ALREADY DONE HERE IN COUNTRY
SUGGESTIONS
Here, for your reference, is a list of coping strategies compiled from suggestions of PCVs from around the word:
THINGS I CAN DO WITH OTHER PEOPLE
Invite people over
Go and visit someone
Telephone someone
Go to a movie, cafe, etc. with someone
Play a game with someone
Participate in a team sport
Volunteer my services to a needy cause
THINGS I CAN DO ON MY OWN
| Read |
Play cards |
| Listen to music |
Cook a meal |
| Take a walk |
Meditate |
| Go to a movie |
Write in my journal |
| Go to a restaurant or cafe |
Go shopping |
| Exercise |
Listen to the radio |
| Garden |
Take some pictures |
| Call home |
Look at photos |
| Write letters |
Make a tape to send home |
| Play an instrument |
Take a ride |
| Solve puzzles |
Watch birds |
| Practice a craft |
Take a trip |
| Watch television |
Watch people |
| Study language |
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THINGS I CAN REMIND MYSELF OF
This will pass.
It's not the end of the world.
I came here to experience a challenge.
I've been through worse than this.
It's natural to feel down from time to time.
No pain; no gain.
It's not just me.
Things didn't always go well back home either.
I have taken on a lot; I should expect to feel overwhelmed from time to time.
WAYS I CAN IMPROVE MY LANGUAGE SKILLS
Talk to children
Talk to older people (who have more time and patience!)
Go to a cafe and eavesdrop
Listen to the radio or TV
Join a club or sports team
Participate in some other kind of group activity
Study a language textbook
Do exercises in a language textbook
Listen to language tapes
Ask a host country informant to tape record key languages phrases that I can practice..
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