Do our election cycles ever really end? It almost seems like they don’t these days. Just when we think we’ll get a break after a federal election, we’re thrown back into some political chaos, story, etc. The news is saturated with political coverage, and pundits argue about all sorts of potential crises.There’s a lot of uncertainty in our society, and we’re experiencing rapid changes in the world around us. Depending on your background, these changes could trigger fears from past experiences. So the scary stories that you hear each day can make you feel like you’re trapped between two rocks with nowhere to go. On one side, you’re dealing with future uncertainties in your environment. On the other side, you’re dealing with emotional pain from your past.
Finding Emotional Balance in a Chaotic Political Climate
It feels like everything is political now. There’s division, judgment, and endless analysis of every viewpoint and opinion. Social justice is important, and people need to feel safe in their communities. Ignoring what’s happening around us isn’t the solution, but neither is making politics your daily entertainment. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what has happened. Leisure time where people used to go from watching the daily news has been replaced with doom scrolling.
Even if you want to be an agent of change, you have to establish boundaries with your time, energy, and attention. You’ll have no energy to support the causes that are important to you unless you get some rest and reprieve.
When you’re not engaging as an agent of change, you still need to take care of yourself. It’s important to foster connections with people, socialize (about stuff other than only politics), and just find time to have fun.
When you’re feeling anxious, the lack of safety that you feel can make you obsess about scary and vulnerable things. To avoid this obsession, you have to practice accepting vulnerability. This doesn’t mean you can’t feel anxious. Rather than just process the issues in the world when you’re with loved ones, get personal and share your anxiety with your friends and support system. Also, let them know how they can support your anxiety.
Avoiding Political Overload
It’s crucial to engage in activities that get you away from the news cycle. Hobbies, leisure, and play are needs that are all too often put on the back burner. If you want to stay informed, set some time aside each day to review the happenings in the world. Then change the channel, skip the doom scroll, and do some things that are pleasurable.
When it comes to stress management, there’s a simple thing that I recommend you deploy: Do more of what you like and less of what you don’t like. Although that sounds simple, it actually is harder to put into action in our busy daily lives.
Using the Political Climate to Learn More About Your Anxiety
No one wants to deal with anxiety, but the more you know about your anxiety, the more you’ll feel equipped to manage it in the future.
Anxiety often stems from a feeling of losing control. When we worry, we try to gain control over things we can’t actually control. This doesn’t usually ease long-term anxiety, even if it temporarily alleviates our worries.
Remember that no feeling lasts forever. They ebb and flow and come and go. Learn more about how your anxiety happens and learn to trust that it will fade. Find places where you can feel more empowered in your life and learn to create some distance from what you can’t control. By the way, you can still influence some things you can’t control. Learn to lean into that as well.
The Problems with Using Your Political Crystal Ball
One common way people try to manage anxiety is by predicting their future. When we do this, we act as if we believe that if we anticipate what will happen, we’ll be better prepared. This seems logical. Preparation is good, but constantly expecting the worst can create unnecessary fear and anxiety.
Ask yourself:
- If the event happens in the future, how does worrying about it now help?
- What evidence do I have that a catastrophic event will occur?
- What is the difference between being cautious, fearful, and worried? Which one do I need to feel right now?
- How valid is the information you’re receiving?
Then, practice living in the moment and embracing joy. It’s really hard to do this. However, laughter is a great antidote. Find reasons, places, and people to experience laughter with.
Strategies to Ease Political Anxiety
- Replace worried thoughts with positive ones. Think about something you enjoy and focus on it. This can be a resourceful person, place, or thing. Engage in activities and hobbies that bring you joy and give you a sense of purpose.
- Focus on your breathing. Practice taking deep breaths to calm anxiety. Practice mindfulness and meditation to enhance the calming effects of deep breathing. You can also learn techniques such as square breathing.
- Stay busy with enjoyable activities. Mindful efforts to distract yourself can be useful when they help you detach from stress and anxiety. Involve yourself in parts of your routine that make you feel safer.
- Focus on what you can control. Remember what you can do and focus your anxious energy on these things. Sometimes this will be focusing on the changes you can influence in your society. Other times it’ll be focusing on what you can do to take care of yourself.
These strategies aren’t foolproof. It will take some trial and error. Sometimes some strategies will work, while other times they won’t. In those moments, focus on shifts in the anxiety rather than eradicating it completely. If you have a positive shift, or even a neutral moment, these are examples that something is working.
If you feel stuck in the anxiety of the political climate and you’re considering therapy as a way to navigate this, please feel free to contact us to discuss how we can help.