How to Deal With Election Anxiety
While it’s normal to feel anxious about presidential elections, this election cycle is bringing out understandably heightened emotions, fears, and concerns. In general, people enjoy feeling a sense of basic safety, certainty and predictability in their daily lives. However, the last few months of political discourse have been chaotic, unpredictable and volatile, on top of the last several years in which many people have lost some of the vital human rights they once had in our country. It’s no wonder that many of our clients have come to sessions feeling scared and helpless, unsure of how to deal with the sense of uncertainty and doubt.
As therapists, it is not our job to diminish our clients' feelings of realistic concern nor to reassure them that things will turn out a certain way when we don’t actually know what will happen. It is however our job to help our clients navigate through uncertain terrain in every aspect of life, including election season. Here are a few ways that you can work through election anxiety.
Acknowledge what you can and cannot control - we can control our own actions but for better or worse, we cannot control the actions of other people. That said, look to see where you CAN effect positive change whether that is getting involved with local groups that support your political values, providing mutual aid to those in need, or having conversations with those around you in order to share ideas and information. When we show up in the world as our best curious and compassionate selves, it encourages others around us to do the same, even and especially when it feels challenging.
Show up in ways that appeal to your personal strengths - are you someone who is super extroverted? Try phone banking or organizing local events. Excellent at budgets? Research which non profits you want to donate to and fundraise for them. People often put a lot of pressure on themselves to take action in every sphere which can end up feeling more paralyzing than inspiring. Be judicious with how to spend your energy so you can act with a sense of purpose as this helps to combat the feelings of overwhelm that either make us feel frantic or frozen in fear.
Take extra time to take care of yourself - this sounds basic but taking care of yourself means acknowledging your understandable distress and helping your nervous system recover. This can look like taking extra time for movement and rest and most importantly, doing things that make you feel positive and connected to yourself and those around you. When we are navigating stressful times, it can often feel like we don’t “deserve” to feel happy or safe but in fact it’s those moments of joy and security that make it possible to get through the other side of our anxiety.
Though therapy can’t “cure” election anxiety or change the circumstances around us, having a safe space to process your emotions can help you navigate this time with greater self compassion and care for yourself and those around you. If you feel therapy could help you process the emotions that are coming up for you in this election cycle, please click on one of our therapists below to set up a free consultation.