3 Ways to Help Ease Election Anxiety
3 Ways To Ease Election Anxiety
Election Season is Fully Here! With the election next week, there is an increase in anxiety among most Americans. Here are some tools to start implementing on how to not let the election steal your peace!
The past few years, maybe even decade, the election season that comes every November, and intensities every 4th November, seems to create more and more anxiety over each cycle. The way the system is set up, it can feel like we're just left with "picking the lesser of two evils" or "I pick this candidate because I don't like the other one." Doesn't matter which side you're on, the ads, the social media posts, the conversations in the office, the family dinners- they all come with an extra amount of anxiety that can make anyone feel like they just want to run and hide until Christmas. If you feel like this, you're not alone. Here are some tips that can help you navigate this heightened time in our country and how to protect your peace.
Limit Social Media Usage
This might seem like a no-brainer, or it might feel like an impossible task, but regardless social media has a significant impact on your overall mindset and even your wellbeing. If you're feeling anxious after closing your apps, then maybe it's a sign that limiting how much, when, and what you're looking is needed. Every time we pull up our apps, we don't know what kind of content we're going to get. We might find ourselves bombarded by posts that are fear based warnings, and have catastrophic messaging, and they all leave a significant impact on your mind and how your brain processes those kinds of threats. As a dear friend and colleague, Beret Huck, LPC said, "Watching it won't change it but it will change your mindset."
Find ways of taking control back and controlling your peace. This could mean- setting strong timers on how much you're on your apps, especially over the next few weeks. It could also mean limiting/muting/unfollowing accounts whose posts only bring you more anxiety, not less. It also could mean being very mindful of the space you're in before, during and after you engage in social media. If you're already stressed about how you're going to pay rent, get your to-do list done, manage the conflict with your boyfriend, then going on social media and seeing a million election related posts that are laced with doom and gloom, then it's probably not going to do you any favors.
Focus on What You Can Control
This one is really important. So much of our world is truly outside of our control. What people say/do/think is not up to us. Worrying about what is outside of our control also doesn't change it from happening. If I let my thoughts about what might happen tomorrow consume me today, then I'm not in control over myself and I'm activating my nervous system in all the wrong ways.
With each election cycle there is so much focus on who is the worst candidate/measure/proposition etc. all indicating so much that is out of our control. We don't get to fully decide who or what goes on the ballot, but we do get to decide what it all means. Things are things, words and words, and people are people until we put meaning to them. So if I look at the ballot and decide that these candidates are going to control my life, then I'm giving someone I've never met so much power and control over me. Or I could take the approach of I voted, I did what I could, and now I get to focus on my day to day and the people that are in my life and how to work towards being the best version of myself.
Challenge those Catastrophic Thoughts
Again, so much of the ads and messaging we get from all sides of the isle on all the issues has to do with big catastrophic thinking patterns. The absolute worst will happen if you vote for this person/proposition, etc. But there reality is, what does this thinking actual do for us? Nothing. Just makes us more fearful and leads even to hating people just because the ads, messaging told me I should. Yes, voting is important, and who we vote for is important, AND it's not everything. Politics do have an impact on our lives, but we get to decide how much. We get to decide if these thought patterns are helpful to think the worst, or to make things and people smaller in my life because making them big really doesn't help anybody.
Things, policies, taxes might change based of the results, however, we still get to be a human first, and remember the resources and resilience we have outside of what someone in a big white building decides.
Bonus: Practice Wonder, and Stay in The Present
The election might feel like it's all consuming and takes over every part of our lives each cycle (which seems to be getting longer and longer each year), but it's really not. We all have 24 hours each day to do what we need and want to do with our time. We get to practice being present in those 24 hours, seeing the beauty that's around us, and wonder about all the things that make life worth living.
Staying present allows us to combat anxiety and depressive states because it reminds our body and nervous system that there is no immediate danger right now. So much that goes into and surrounds elections are screaming of all the dangers if we don't vote a certain way. And there is some truth to that, but ultimately, to your individual sense of safety, your day to day life, going to work, getting your coffee, meeting up with your friends, it can all happen if you stay in the present and don't let fear and anxiety steal from this moment that's right in front of you.
The election is important. It's important to vote and participate in our country's process to help decide leaders and change. And it's not everything. So if you're feeling extra anxious about the process and possible results, maybe take a step back, breathe and remind yourself of what's in your control, what's happening right here and now in the present, and reconnect with yourself and the world around you.
If this connects to patterns and behaviors that you've found yourself repeating in your life, and finding yourself extra anxious and you want to find another way, I encourage you to use this link, and schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation call with me. Let's see if we can take some action steps in learning new ways of managing anxiety, and finding freedom in your life, mind and body.
