Have you ever had one of those moments when you’re upset or overwhelmed and the only thoughts that pop into your head are negative thoughts? Yeah, we’ve all been there. Those moments are super stressful and it can take a lot of work to turn those moments around. Because your emotions are running high in stressful moments like this, it is important to have a toolbox of strategies that you can reach into. Let’s take a look at a strategy that you can use to help calm your mind and remind you that, “You’ve Got This!” 

We like to call this strategy, you guessed it, the “You’ve Got This!” strategy.  

For this strategy, you are going to come up with mantras that you can use when you are feeling overwhelmed. A mantra is something that you can repeat to yourself during any stressful moment. Chances are you’ve probably already unconsciously done this strategy in the past. For example, before a challenging task, you may have psyched yourself up by telling yourself, “You’ve Got This” a few times either out loud or in your head.  

“You’ve Got This!” is a mantra that works for many different situations. However, for this specific strategy, you’ll want to take a few minutes to think of additional mantras that you can use when you’re faced with overwhelming moments.  

Here are a few tips.  

Make your mantras short and to the point. It’s hard to repeat something that is a paragraph long. Try to keep your mantras to a single sentence or even just a few words.  

Mantras should be positive in nature.  

A mantra can be another mini-strategy that you repeat to yourself. For example, if you are struggling to focus on a task, you can use the mantra “I can do anything for five minutes” to help you focus. 

Alright, it’s time to grab a pen and paper and write down those mantras. Doing the work now to come up with your mantras will add another tool to your self-regulation toolbox. Eventually, you’ll get so used to using your mantras that it becomes second nature when you’re faced with a stressful situation.