Managing a BPD Diagnosis: 4 Essential Skills for Coping with Triggers and Daily Life

Trigger Warning: This article contains discussion of self harm and suicidal ideation.

Managing your BPD diagnosis can feel isolating and overwhelming, but you are not alone! Understanding how to navigate Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is the first step toward healing, growth, and a more stable future.

As someone who has lived with a formal BPD diagnosis for over four years, I have learned how to manage my bpd diagnosis in my daily life—avoiding crises and handling triggers. Join me in this conversation to explore how you can build a fulfilling life, no longer defined by your diagnosis!

Daily Routines to Stay Afloat: Practical Skills for Managing BPD Diagnosis in Everyday Life

I used to wake up every morning filled with anxiety about what the day would bring. Over time, I discovered skills that help me stay grounded from the moment my feet hit the floor. Here are some practical strategies I use daily that can help you to navigate your BPD diagnosis:

• Gratitude journal: Writing down what you’re grateful for helps cultivate a positive mindset and keeps you focused on the good in life. This practice takes time, but even something as simple as appreciating your morning coffee can make a difference.
• Agenda & to-do lists: Maintaining a structured and productive environment can prevent chaos, which often leads to emotional spirals or crises. Creating a daily to-do list—even with small tasks like running errands—can provide a sense of purpose and accomplishment.
• Staying on top of medications: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again—there’s no shame in the medicine game! Taking your prescribed medications consistently can make a huge difference. Even if you don’t take prescription meds, incorporating daily vitamins can help support your overall health and mood.
• Making my bed and keeping my room tidy: Making my bed and keeping my room organized may seem small, but a clean environment helps maintain mental clarity and reduces stress.
• Exercise: Physical activity releases serotonin, which can improve mood and overall well-being. I personally recommend outdoor exercise whenever the weather permits. Grounding—connecting with nature, feeling the earth beneath your feet, and breathing fresh air—has been incredibly beneficial for me.

Setting Boundaries for Yourself and Others: Navigating your BPD with Healthy Limits

While navigating your BPD diagnosis, setting boundaries is essential to avoiding triggers that can lead to crises. Abandonment and judgment are two common triggers for people with BPD. For example, to manage these triggers, you might set boundaries such as:

• Communicating expectations in relationships: Letting others know what you need in terms of reassurance, consistency, and respect can help prevent feelings of abandonment.
• Limiting contact with judgmental or toxic individuals: If certain people tend to criticize or invalidate your feelings, creating distance or setting limits on interactions can protect your emotional well-being.
• Establishing time for self-care: Prioritizing personal space and alone time when needed can help prevent emotional exhaustion and give you room to process feelings in a healthy way.
• Clearly defining emotional limits: If a conversation or situation becomes overwhelming, having the ability to step away and regroup can prevent an emotional spiral.

Setting and maintaining boundaries takes practice, but it’s a powerful tool for creating stability and self-respect in your daily life. On a personal note, I recomend self help books. In paricular, The Borderline Personality Disorder Workbook by Daniel J. Fox, PHD.

“The Borderline Personality Disorder Workbook by Daniel Fox is a user-friendly, systematic, and pragmatic set of tools designed to help clients with borderline personality disorder symptoms identify and work toward change through a variety of multidimensional activities and exercises.”

Sherry Cormier, PhD The Borderline Personality Disorder Workbook

Creating a Crisis Plan: Steps to Prepare for Emotional Distress Before it Happens

Managing your BPD diagnosis effectively includes being as prepared as possible for a crisis, create a crisis plan. Type it out, print several copies for those you live with, and hang one in your bedroom. A crisis plan typically includes:

• Emergency contacts (trusted friends, family, therapist, doctor, crisis hotline)
• Warning signs that indicate a crisis is developing
• Coping strategies that help you self-soothe and regain control
• Safe places you can go if you need to leave your current environment
• Medications you take and any important medical information
• A list of supportive people who can help you through a crisis
• Steps others can take to assist you when you’re struggling

By having this plan readily available, you can ensure that both you and those around you are equipped to handle difficult moments with clarity and support.

Specific DBT Skills to Use in a Crisis: Grounding Techniques for Emotional Regulation

To effectively utilize coping skills during a crisis, you must practice them daily when you are of sound mind so that they become second nature. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a cognitive therapy designed to rewire the way your brain processes and responds to emotional situations. As someone who has gone through DBT, I’d like to share the skills I’ve found most useful:

• Grounding: Physically go outside and place your bare feet in the grass. This helps reconnect you with the present moment and provides a calming sensory experience.
• Temperature control: Hold an ice cube in your fist or dunk your face in cold water. This lowers your heart rate and forces your mind to focus on the intense cold rather than distressing emotions or intrusive thoughts.
• Mindfulness: Guided meditation can help you stay present, preventing overthinking and wandering thoughts. Practicing mindfulness regularly strengthens your ability to manage overwhelming emotions.
• Deep breathing: Controlled breathing lowers your heart rate and shifts your focus to your breath rather than your emotions. Techniques like box breathing (inhaling for four seconds, holding for four, exhaling for four, and holding again) can be especially effective.

By incorporating these skills into your daily routine, you’ll be better equipped to navigate emotional distress when it arises. For more information on mind-body grounding and wellness.

Living with and managing a BPD diagnosis can feel tough, but you don’t have to face it alone. By building simple routines, setting boundaries, and practicing skills like DBT, you can find stability and take control of your life. Creating a crisis plan helps you stay prepared, and with time, you’ll learn how to manage those tough moments. Keep in mind that healing takes time, but each step forward counts, and you’ve got the strength to make it happen!