Christina Craft’s Calming Tips

Daily Health Solutions, Featured Article
on December 1, 2011
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Kristin Anderson Christina Craft helps army families cope during spouses deployment
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Christina Craft, winner of Spry’s Most Inspiring Volunteer award, is the founder of IMPACT: Imparting Military Practical Advice, Connecting Together. The purpose of IMPACT is to help military spouses thrive even when their loved one has been deployed.

She offers these three tips for maintain your sanity even during stressful times.

Be Intentional. Take the time to acknowledge the real stressors that have the greatest negative impact on your overall wellbeing. If you don't take the time to differentiate negative stressors from healthy stressors and review your true responses to them, you are not likely to take the next step to improve those responses and your wellbeing.

Get a Battle Buddy. In the military, we utilize the concept of “battle buddies.” It’s founded on support and accountability, which both go a long way to combat the destructive responses to negative stressors — feelings of anxiety, numbness, depression, patterns of isolation and hopelessness. It is healthy to surround yourself with positive people who will offer positive support so you can replace those destructive behaviors with healthy ones, such as a healthy diet, exercise, rest and laughter.

Review Your Bs. Educate yourself on the many healthy coping skills that exist and seek to have balance and boundaries in all you do. These tools will help you battle against a potential rise in burdens and burnout.