Coping With Election Stress
Remember that you have the agency to rebuff today’s cries for resilience. Unyielding strength is something our society demands only of those whose rights we systematically obstruct. So grant yourself the grace and luxury to feel that you’re not going to be okay – but know that you will be. Take the time to grieve, to replenish your body, mind and soul. Then rise up and heed the call to fight for justice once more.
Faisal Al-Juburi
Unfortunately the LGBT community has always faced darkness and people pushing against us. So what we always need to do is circle back – check in on yourself and check in on those you love. And be aware of your own limitations. If you need to take a break, take a break. Are you doomscrolling right now? If that’s making you feel worse, take a step back.
~ Aaron Almanza
https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2024/nov/12/election-anxiety-therapist-advice
But after I get over the hump of this shock, I do feel an urgency around mobilizing. Maybe that’s shifting our services to more group models so that we can reach more people. I think there’s going to be higher rates of anxiety and distress, and we’re going to need more access to mental health, especially in marginalized communities.
I want to stay hopeful for society. Especially for our teens, because they feel so much existential despair. I still want to choose hope.
~ Tamika Lewis
As therapists, we need to walk the walk that we teach people. That means using coping skills like breathing, mindfulness and meditation to remain in the present so that we’re responsive versus reactive. If we let ourselves spin out, what are the next four years going to look like?
I think about what I can control and what I can’t. What are the positive things I can do to affect me and others in a positive way? Then I can put energy into that.
~ Nancy Lumb
To keep ourselves grounded, we need to resist the urge to internalize the weight of these policies as personal failures. It’s crucial to remain focused on the long view: our collective history of resistance, our shared capacity for resilience and our ability to create change despite being systematically undermined.
We're not passive victims of these systems. We are active participants in shaping a different future, even when it feels like the system is stacked against us.
~ Madison Nardy
Cycles of structural violence are nothing new here on stolen land built upon by stolen lives. Indigenous and Black communities especially have resisted, fought back and created amazing systems of care for generations.
Your fear and overwhelm are real and valid. Be gentle with yourself. Surround yourself with chosen family and kin that honor your feelings and experiences. Create soft spaces for you and your community to grieve and tend to your hearts.
~ Melody Li
Be mindful about how you talk to yourself and others, and don’t force toxic positivity. Sometimes, there isn’t a silver lining. For many of us, this isn’t surprising. This isn’t the first time we’ve been confronted with a sense of a lack of safety, or have felt the effects of hatred. When we try to soothe ourselves or others prematurely it's not helpful. Sometimes, it’s just shit, and that’s what this is. We can sit with that, hold that, and then turn to mobilizing and activism.
~ Sadie Salazar
With all the emotions that are weighing on me, I will create the disruption needed to win bold policies, protect our voices and rights. I am relying on my community, because we are going to need each other now more than ever. Mutual aid groups, checking in on my family, friends and mobilizing collectively gives me hope. Moving forward I will continue fighting for my neighbors, the people I see on the bus ride home and the students I go to class with.
~ Ariela Lara
Anxiety is very good at convincing us that we know exactly what’s going to happen, that the way we feel right now is the way we will always feel and that we won’t be able to cope. But the fact that those things feel true right now doesn’t mean they are true.
Activists are a stubborn bunch of people. They’re in it for the long haul, and they are used to the rollercoaster of progress and loss. No one is giving up.
~ Kathryn Stinson