Firstly I know your post was form a while back, so I hope
things are better for you now. I still wanted to replay as these kinds of
questions might be useful for others now.
How do I distract myself?
His one depends on the day and the issue and my energy
levels but all of the following are regulars: TV, reading, audiobooks,
podcasts, music, crafts, gardening, pets, friends, learning new stuff, working
out, walking, tooling about online, writing things out, coding.
How do I resist temptations?
Hmmm I don’t do a lot
of resisting – I am pretty ok with the things I find ‘tempting’ being in my
life at least in moderation. It is
always good to keep in my what I REALLY want vs what I want RIGHT NOW.
Sometimes I choose immediate gratification, other times I decide that my longer
term goal is worth a little compromise in the here and now.
How do I manage my anger?
I tend to find that things that make me angry fall into one
of two categories: Things I can do SOMETHING about, or things I can do NOTHING
about. If there is something I can do I use my anger to help me take constructive
action, if there is nothing I can do I will then try to avoid the trigger and
let it go.
How do I calm myself down?
Breathing. Damn it is SUCH a cliché, but it really does
work. Get a metronome and breath in for 6 beats, out for 6 beats. Experiment
with different length, and with pauses till you find what works best for you.
Progressive muscle relaxation. Exercise. I write things out,
usually with a CBT or NLP type of approach.
How do I boost my self esteem? First and foremost I make sure if I am going to go around comparing myself to something I compare myself to MYSELF, and not others. The best way is current self to ideal self by SAMENESS (eg what do me now, and my ideal self have in common) or current self to past worst self by difference (eg how have I improved?). Comparing myself to others, or to an ideal and only paying attention to the ways in which I fall short is a recipe for misery.
I also have learned what things make me feel proud or accomplished and I make sure I do a lot of of those things. I also know which things make me feel particularly lazy/bad/worthless, so I try to minimise those things. Eg Doing a work out makes me feel great and feel great about myself. Having a grotty floor makes me feel lazy and gross, so I try to keep the floors clean.