I distract myself when my negative emotions or symptoms are beyond the point at which I can handle them with skills. When I'm too upset to be able to do anything productive about how I'm feeling, that's when I distract myself. My distractions are usually activities I usually enjoy (I enjoy them when I'm not symptomatic), things that require my focus, or five senses things.

Enjoyable activities - TV shows, paper crafting, working on my recipe book, reading
Requiring focus - coloring, organizing something, creating a system, making the charts for my mood journal
Five senses - eating yummy food, a soft blanket


When you talk to people with only a basic understanding of mental illness (like for one example people who have had a diagnosis of depression for two years, or someone who is wondering if they have anxiety problems) do you feel like you're talking to a child? Like you have to break everything down for them to explain?