Coping With Election Anxiety?

Like many Americans, you may be experiencing heightened anxiety, worry, tension, and even fear during this election season. When so much is uncertain, and the country is so divided, how can we stay centered? 

In preparing to work with my clients - and keep myself healthy - during this time, I've been doing a lot of reading, thinking and planning around this issue. I thought I'd share some strategies here.

1. Build a "safe zone." What I mean by this is to focus on a small, but meaningful area around yourself where you have some say in what kind of messaging/energy gets in. This may mean limiting social media and news consumption, spending time around positive people, and avoiding excess stressors and conflicts in your immediate vicinity.

2. Radiate positivity outward. In addition to being insular when it comes to harmful content, it can also have a positive effect to manage the impact of your presence on others. To me, this means approaching others with kindness, good-will, generosity and gratitude. We can't control much but we can control the energy we give off and the way in which we treat those we come into contact with.

3. Pour yourself into a new, healthy hobby. For me, this has looked like quilting, gardening and home improvement projects. By focusing on generative, creative, low-stakes projects, you can improve your immediate environment while also flexing new muscles. Learning, growing and generating beauty are great ways to stay distracted.

4. Lean into your gratitude. We've all heard about the benefits of having a gratitude practice, but in times like these, it's even more important. Shifting from a scarcity perspective to one of abundance and gratitude can improve our resilience in the face of stress, and help us put our stressors into a larger context.

5. When in doubt - get outside and move! Excercise and sunshine are great foils to depression, anxiety and doomscrolling. When the tendency to lean into harmful patterns hits, try taking a break to walk the dog, go get a coffee, get off the subway a stop earlier, or take the scenic route. 

We can't make this time easy, but with intentionality, we can reduce the negative impact and increase our resilence to such. Good luck out there!