Effective Coping Mechanisms for Mental Health

I've found visualization and mindfulness really helpful. My therapist taught me one where you visualize yourself in a forest, approaching a river. You bend down to pick up a fallen leaf and the leaf represents whatever you're worried about (I shove things, people, and events as well as general bad feelings onto a leaf or multiple leaves if needed). You then bend down and gently place the leaf in the river, where the current sweeps it away and out of your mind. Visualize it becoming smaller and smaller until it drifts out of sight. For some reason this really really helps me, just having the visual of the source of my anxiety floating away. It also works when I'm trying to focus on something, like reading, but unrelated thoughts keep popping up. I just put it on a leaf in my cozy little forest and send it off. Sometimes it doesn't work or feel right for some thoughts, like they won't disappear, and I need to visualize myself running and catching the leaf again to re-dump all my additional thoughts onto it, like I missed something the first time. Idk. It's not for everyone but I use it all the time for everyday things, keeps me focused and less anxious. I also like to remind myself that, in most cases, the things I'm worried about are out of my control (test results, other people's actions/opinions, stuff that happened in the past, etc)

Distraction usually. Be it doing something else and being so invested that it makes me forget or someone telling me a joke that catches me off guard and pulls me away from the constant spiral of thoughts. Usually just talking or thinking about something completely different helps even though you need someone else to start it most of the time