Beneficial for:
Giving yourself a minute to ground or destress, ideal for those suffering them anxiety or intense emotional reactions to change.
How to do it:
- Communicate with your family, friends, boss or teacher about why you need to have a ‘time out’ and make a personalized plan so they know when and why you need a few moments to yourself.
- Make sure you know your triggers as to why and when you need a time out so you know when you need that moment to yourself so it doesn’t escalate.
- Make sure you know what you want to achieve during and after having your time out. Do you need to calm down? Do you need to get your breathing under control? Do you need to do some grounding exercises?
- When you need a time out, go somewhere quiet and private so you can do what you need to do before going back to the situation you was in.
- Time out should only be 5 minutes at a time but whatever length and consistency is entirely down to you.