Sometimes, the best way to manage emotions is to prepare in advance for situations that might be related to strong emotions or stress. In dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT; Linehan, 2015), there is an emotion regulation skill called coping ahead. Coping ahead involves planning and practicing effective coping strategies before you get into a difficult situation. You can do this by writing down and rehearsing a plan ahead of time, imagining yourself coping effectively in a difficult situation, getting help in planning from someone else, and so on. The basic idea is that, if you practice and prepare in advance, stressful situations will be a lot less stressful. You might also find that all the practice and preparation you’ve done become invaluable once you are actually in the stressful situation. This idea of coping ahead of time or proactive coping has been around for quite a long time. People use the skill of coping ahead in a variety of different occupations. In his book, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, Chris Hadfield talks about the painstaking process of preparing in advance for emergencies during space flight. He talks about how astronauts spend years becoming familiar with, practicing, and mastering variety of procedures, many of which they may never need to use. Even though an emergency or catastrophe may never happen, all of this practice and preparation can make it so that handling an emergency is not so different than making a cup of coffee. You know exactly what to do, and it becomes easy and automatic. Sports psychologists often encourage athletes to do the same thing. Successful athletes often spend a fair amount of time imagining particular scenarios or moves and practicing them in their imagination (and in real life) repeatedly. See if you can apply the same strategy to stressful or difficult events that might be coming up in the future. Prepare and practice effective coping strategies as many times as you can, so that you can walk into that stressful situation with ease, knowing that you’ve got it figured out and can handle whatever comes your way. Alexander L. Chapman, Ph.D., R.Psych.,