11/04/2024
5 ways to cope with election anxiety
If the election is stressing you out, you’re not alone. Many people are experiencing election anxiety, regardless of their political views. Here are five things that can help. Number 5 is my favorite.
1. Self-compassion
Be kind to yourself. Recognize that anxiety is your body's protective response when you feel like you're under threat and it doesn't know what to do. Anxiety is a common response and remembering that a lot of people are going through the same thing can help.
2. Mind and body awareness
Pay attention to how the anxiety is showing up for you - do you have a sense of worry or a lot of overthinking or are you feeling restless or tense or just not sure what to do with yourself? If you can get curious about your experience, this will help because curiosity puts you in a different state of mind than anxiety.
3. Emotional Curiosity
Get curious about whether there might be deeper emotions under the anxiety, such as fear or sadness or a sense of isolation. Anxiety can be a way we protect ourselves from difficult or raw feelings. Maybe you can pay attention to them, or maybe they are too much. It’s ok to find ways to put them aside -- even acknowledging them can help.
4. Movement
Do something active with your body like walking or running or dancing or getting outside in nature. Do something that helps release some of that pent up tension and frustration that may be part of that anxious fight-flight kind of response that's in there - whether you realize it or not .
And here’s my favorite:
5. Connection & Community
Connect with other people – friends, family, other people with common interests and concerns. Maybe you can support one another in your worries, or maybe you can find comfort in company, maybe you can help each other with some distraction, and maybe you can even have some lightness, laughter or fun together. Try to notice and feel the support when you connect with others.
Which one of these things might feel helpful to you? Give it a try .
And, if you're a therapist and you are working with people who have election anxiety or maybe you're having some yourself, what’s helping you?
