Michelle Chung, Psy.D.

May your July Fourth weekend be full of joy… and a coping tool in your pocket!

The holiday weekend is often filled with celebration: friends, family, BBQs, fireworks, and sun. But it can also bring crowds, heat, loud noises, and overstimulation.

It can help to have a coping or self-soothing strategy ready, just in case you need a quick reset.

Thankfully, one of the most effective tools is something you carry with you everywhere you go (no pocket needed): your breath.

I like to think of our breath as the body’s built-in metronome. When life feels overwhelming, it can help us find our rhythm again.

One technique worth trying is the physiological (or cyclic) sigh, a breathing pattern that can help regulate the nervous system by engaging our parasympathetic (the “rest and digest”) response.

Here’s how to do it:
➞ Slowly inhale through your nose,
➞ Before you exhale, take one more small inhale through your nose to fully expand your lungs.
➞ Exhale slowly through your mouth like a long, gentle sigh, emptying your lungs.
➞ Repeat for at least 3–5 breaths. For a greater effect, continue for 3–5 minutes.

The beauty of this technique is its simplicity. You can use it anywhere: before the fireworks, after a stressful conversation, while sitting in traffic, or anytime you need to reset.

Sometimes the fastest way to change how you feel is to change how you breathe.

** For more tips follow @𝗱𝗿.𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗴 **
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As I shared last week, there’s no single “best” coping skill. But what we can do is switch to the skill that best fits the challenge in front of us.

Grounding yourself in the present moment may help when anxiety is high, but it won’t necessarily lift a low mood. Movement might improve a low mood, but it might not quiet our rumination. Sometimes you need self-compassion. While other times your mind and body might need acceptance, distraction, or simply breaking things down into one small step.

The goal isn’t to master one coping skill, it’s to build the flexibility to switch them as your needs change. It will take practice, trial and error, and paying attention to what works (and what doesn’t) for you.

Because resilience isn’t about responding the same way every time. It’s about responding wisely.

** For more tips follow @𝗱𝗿.𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗴 **
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No coping skill works all the time

Mental health isn’t about finding the right strategy, it’s about knowing when to switch.

Like rock–paper–scissors, what works in one moment might fall flat in another. Rigid coping is like playing rock every round and wondering why it stops working.

The same is true for skills:
✧ Distraction helps sometimes.
✧ Feeling it fully helps sometimes.
✧ Problem-solving helps sometimes.

Struggling doesn’t mean you’re failing , it just means the strategy doesn’t match the moment.

** For more tips follow @𝗱𝗿.𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗴 **
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Ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the manager of the South Korean national team had players swap jerseys during training. Knowing the Swedish scouts would be reliant on the printed names and numbers on their backs, the goal was to make it harder for the opposing team to identify and study players.

His strategy drew on the cognitive phenomenon known as the other-race effect, when our brains tend to have a harder time recognizing and distinguishing faces from racial groups we’re less familiar with. Rather than seeing this as a limitation, he flipped the script and turned it into a strategic advantage.

But there’s a lesson here beyond soccer:
We spend so much of life trying to hide, fix, or overcome our challenges, setbacks, and perceived weaknesses that we overlook another possibility… learning to work with them.

The trait you see as a weakness may become a strength in the right context. The setback you resent may reveal a new path. The thing you’re trying to overcome may hold the insight needed to move forward.

We can’t always change the circumstances, but we can change our relationship to them.

So ask “Is there another more helpful way to see this?”
➞ A difference that can become an edge?
➞ A setback that motivates?
➞ A “no” that gives direction and clarity?
➞ A limitation that channels your focus?
➞ A mistake that gives you the chance to build trust?
➞ A sensitivity that helps you notice what others miss?

Sometimes the very thing holding you back can become the very thing to move you forward.

** For more tips follow @𝗱𝗿.𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗴 **
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✨ New Webinar: Tools for a Confident Summer ✨
Navigating Body Image Using Nutrition & Psychology

Summer can stir up extra stress around food, clothing, vacations, and photos — and you’re not alone if you feel it. Join registered dietitian Rebecca Jaspan, MPH, RD, CEDS, and clinical psychologists Dr. Allie Dashow & Dr. Michelle Chung for a warm, judgment-free space to build real tools you can use.

We’ll cover:
🍽️ Flexible nutrition tips
🧠 Coping skills for hard moments
🪞 Body image strategies to stay present
☀️ Reframes for the beach or your backyard
💬 Live Q&A

📅 Wed, July 1 | 8:00 PM EST (75 min)
💻 Online | $20
🔗 Link in bio to reserve your spot

The stories we tell ourselves matter.

Not because every thought is true, but because the thoughts we repeatedly return to shape how we see ourselves and the world around us.

If you constantly feed the narrative that you’re not enough, your mind will start collecting evidence to support it.

If you repeatedly remind yourself that you’re learning, growing, and capable of handling hard things, your mind begins looking for evidence of that too.

This isn’t about toxic positivity or pretending difficult realities don’t exist. It’s about noticing which stories you’re strengthening through repetition.

While we can’t eliminate every negative thought, we can become more intentional about which narratives deserve our attention.

Because the thoughts you practice become the beliefs you carry. And the narratives you nurture are the ones that tend to grow.

** For more tips follow @𝗱𝗿.𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗴 **
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Sometimes staying stuck becomes more exhausting than the growth we’ve been avoiding.

We stay: stay in jobs that drain us, relationships we’ve outgrown, patterns that no longer serve us. We tell ourselves we’re staying because it’s comfortable, it’s familiar, and it’s easier than change. But is it really?

We often think growth is the harder path because it comes with uncertainty. But what we don’t always notice is that staying where we are comes with a cost too. Yes there’s discomfort in change, but there’s also discomfort in staying stuck. And sometimes the choice isn’t between pain or no pain. It’s between the pain of staying where you are or the pain of growth.

It’s scary to trade the familiar for the unpredictable and the uncertain. But when you take those steps to leave your comfort zone, you’ll find yourself growing.

Those first steps might look like…
— Reframing the stress of leaving your comfort zone. Tell yourself that it’s not scary, bad, or something you want to get rid of. Your body can hold this initial discomfort.

— Being patient and kind. Remember that progress is not linear. It will have peaks, valleys, AND plateaus. And when there’s a bump in the road (there will be), remind yourself: “I’m just not there YET.”

— Prioritizing the parts of your life where being comfortable is doing more harm than good.

— Practicing by taking small steps. Push yourself to try something new, take a new route, talk to a new person.

And when we take that step and allow ourselves to move forward, maybe we’ll find that we were carrying something far heavier than the next step ever was.

** For more tips follow @𝗱𝗿.𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗴 **
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•• Progress doesn’t always look the way you expect ••

It’s easy to measure yourself against what’s visible: milestones, timelines, big wins, outward change. The kind of progress that can be seen, shared, and validated.

But, the truth is so much of real progress happens quietly.

Maybe it looks like:
➞ pausing before reacting;
➞ setting a boundary you used to avoid;
➞ getting through the day when everything feels heavy;
➞ trying again, even when part of you wants to give up.

Progress is not always linear nor is it always obvious. And it rarely looks the same from one person to the next. But that doesn’t make it any less real, meaningful, or worthy of recognition.

Growth is personal. It reflects your experiences, your challenges, your starting point. So instead of asking, “Am I where I should be;” try “Am I moving in a way that’s true for me?”

Because progress isn’t about keeping up, it’s about continuing… however that may look for you.

** For more tips follow @𝗱𝗿.𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗴 **
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•• It’s Earth Day, accept natures invite! ••

“Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are.”
- Gretel Ehrlich

And yet, many of us spend about 90% of our time indoors, much of it in front of screens.

So what keeps us from accepting that invitation?

Research consistently shows that time in nature supports both our mental and physical health. But beyond the data, there’s something deeper, something intuitive. We are part of nature. And when we step outside, something in us recognizes that.

What nature can offer us:
➞ A reduction in stress and a lift in mood
➞ Support for symptoms of anxiety, depression, and chronic pain
➞ Improves self-image and general positive outlook
➞ Improved focus, memory, and creativity
➞ A sense of calm, mindfulness, and even awe
➞ Boosts your immune system and improve sleep

Connecting with nature doesn’t require a trip to the Grand Canyon.
It can be simple, close, and everyday:
✧ a walk down a tree-lined street;
✦ a few quiet minutes in a park;
✧ noticing the sky shift, the breeze, the sound of birds.

Even small moments count. So maybe today, we accept the invitation.

** For more tips follow @𝗱𝗿.𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗴 **
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•• Why not make your mind a nice place to be… ••

A place free from self-loathing. A place where negative and hurtful thoughts are acknowledged but never listened to. A place where you show up and care for yourself.

The way you speak to yourself, the tone you use, the stories you repeat, it all becomes the environment you live in every day.

Finding the good in yourself or the world takes practice! But, when you do, you can create new patterns of thinking… changing the way you experience life.

So maybe it’s not about silencing every negative thought. Maybe it’s about softening the way you respond to them: with less harshness, more understanding, and a little more room to be human.

Because you don’t get to leave your mind,
but you can change what it feels like to live there.

** For more tips follow @𝗱𝗿.𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗴 **
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