There are problems that seniors in Mooresville, NC, face in life that have no solution. With aging comes challenges like loneliness, which has a remedy. However, things like degenerative illness or bereavement are not really problems that can be solved in an afternoon.
For these situations, seniors can take an emotion-focused coping approach. This is one of the more effective stress management strategies for seniors, helping them deal with coping with change that they can’t control.
Are you interested in learning more about emotional resilience in aging and how emotionally focused coping can help seniors live a better life? Then read on to learn more about this important topic.
Emotion-Focused Coping for Seniors
The key principle of the emotion-focused coping approach to assisted living mental health awareness is that you don’t try to solve your problems with logic or actions. Instead, you examine your thoughts and your feelings and try to change the way you think. Obviously, it’s more appropriate to use this technique in some contexts rather than others.
For example, if you’re feeling lonely and you lack a social connection, it’s not really a responsible use of the technique to try to change your negative feelings. Your negative feelings are a sign that you need to take action to change your situation.
But aging brings about many changes that are not as simple to fix. If you’re dealing with a degenerative or even terminal illness, you can’t join a club and fix your problem.
When there’s no solution in sight, you need to turn to a strategy that addresses your feelings. These emotion-based coping techniques are especially effective in memory care support strategies.
Coping support people help individuals feel more resilient. It helps seniors be more flexible in accepting their situation and effectively regulate their emotions during stressful periods.
According to Healthline, emotion-focused coping techniques help older adults process changes in their lives and improve their well-being. Seniors in Mooresville are increasingly turning to these mental wellness techniques to handle the problems associated with retirement and old age.
Mastering Mindfulness for Emotions
One of the most well-known emotion-focused coping techniques is called Mindfulness. Mindfulness is a skill that’s easy to learn, but it takes a lifetime to master. The central principle is that you learn to observe your feelings without necessarily judging them as good or bad. You accept them as they are and let them pass by.
Imagine you’re sitting on a bench watching people bike, jog, or skateboard by. Imagine each one of these people represents an emotion like anger, jealousy, or desire. To see yourself watching these feelings travel by without letting them influence you to get up from the bench.
This detached observation doesn’t sound too hard until you actually try it for yourself. Once you try observing your feelings without letting them affect you, you’ll realize just how emotionally driven humans are.
Being driven by your emotions isn’t always a bad thing. For example, being motivated to get a promotion at work so you can be more financially secure isn’t necessarily something you need to suppress. The desire for recognition could be the fuel you need to chase your goals.
Problems arise if you feel jealous of co-workers who earn more than you, or if you start to feel angry with management because you feel like they’re underestimating you. Your negative could end up being the personal weakness that gets you passed over for promotion.
Learning to accept these feelings rather than letting them influence your actions or perspective is the key principle of mindfulness.
To get started with this practice, all you need to do is go to a quiet area and start to focus on your bodily sensations. According to Real Simple, one approach involves slowing down your breath and paying particularly close attention to how it feels when you breathe in and out.
Mindful Body Scanning
This kind of awareness of the subtle functions of your body is called a body scan. Body scanning can help you distract your attention away from your emotions and not let them affect the way you act or communicate.
Body scanning is also an effective way to boost your physical health. Seniors tend to have lots of aches and pains, and many of these chronic pain issues are related to things like poor posture or stress. Using mindfulness techniques like the body scan can have the secondary benefit of making seniors more aware of these problems and helping them to relax the stress they carry in their bodies.
How Community Can Help
Being part of a community can also do wonders for your immersion-focused coping perspective. According to a study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, strong community bonds can foster a sense of emotional resilience. Seniors who feel lonely are less likely to be successful in things like mindfulness body scans.
An isolated senior who lives at home without much chance for social interaction will likely have much better management of their immersions if they’re involved in a senior living community. Offer a chance for residents to come together and talk about their thoughts and feelings among sympathetic friends and educated staff members.
Discover a Supportive Senior Living Community
Are you looking for a senior living community that will boost your emotional resilience by helping you live your best life and giving you access to a supportive network of peers and community staff?
Emotion-focused coping methods are much more effective when you’re part of a vibrant community. Here at TerraBella Lake Norman, we offer various living options that help you balance the support you need with the lifestyle you want.
Active independent living is the perfect way to feel part of a supportive community without fully embracing senior living. For those with higher support needs, we offer senior assisted living and Shine memory care. Our community is committed to uplifting our residents and helping them take a mindful approach to their problems.
If you’re interested in seeing how our community facilitates stress management for seniors and memory care support strategies, why not schedule a visit and see what our Lake Norman community has to offer?
