⇒ EASY READING: COPING STRATEGIES - We live in exciting times. For many people, it is too exciting! Only a couple of hundred years ago, life changed very little from one generation to the next. - Today, if you went to sleep for a year, you would be behind the times when you woke up. If you missed a decade, you would need a huge re-education to catch up. - The biggest factor is not so much the change, but the rate of change. We can hardly keep up. For a brain and mind that developed to help us find food, shelter and basic relationships, the complexities of modern life can be overwhelming. - In more staid times, there existed simple coping strategies that were appropriate to the circumstances. Novel situations were rare. Now, what happened yesterday may not be what will happen tomorrow, yet we will be expected to deal with whatever life throws at us and carry on. - To do so demands a package of coping skills that are relevant to our current lives. We are not born with these skills and are often not taught them in our formative years. We are just expected to know. - The aim here is to provide a simple blueprint for dealing with specific and general circumstances that by their nature invoke a stressful response. Chronic stress can be a killer, and its effects are cumulative. This knowledge can help you to manage unavoidable situations in a healthier way.