Best You Evolution, LLC

01/25/2026

if “coping skills” sound like a joke to you right now and you are struggling, read on. this is beyond coping with stress. you are adapting to ongoing threat while preserving your humanity. that is not weakness, it is wise.

people are actively being targeted by laws, rhetoric, lies and systems. safety is not guaranteed. stress and fear are not distortions, they are accurate responses to what’s happening. your nervous system is responding exactly as it should be.

when danger like this is ongoing, telling someone (or ourselves) to calm down, think positively, or breathe through feels dismissive at best and cruel at worst. those approaches are built for temporary stress, not sustained threat.

to be very clear, this is not about making you feel better so you can tolerate harm. it’s about helping your nervous system stay intact, oriented, and human while living inside very real uncertainty and insecurity.

we are not “made” for what we are experiencing right now. our nervous systems are “wired” for survival, not to help us feel better. it’s important that we are closing out the stress response cycles after scrolling, consuming news, and witnessing cruelty and injustice. even if it is for brief moments, it matters.

*speak the fear in plain language, privately or with others. silence increases cortisol. naming helps restore orientation and self-trust. this is how we survive oppression without internal collapse. this helps regulation through truth, not calming. your nervous system also knows when it’s being lied to.

“this isn’t just anxiety. this is my nervous system responding to danger.” “i am being targeted by policy, rhetoric, lies or systems.”
write or say: “the danger I’m responding to is ______. my response makes sense because ______.”

*sometimes distress isn’t a nervous system problem, it’s moral injury. feeling upset can be a sign you’re still aligned with your morals and values.
anchoring questions:
-what do i refuse to normalize?
-what line still matters to me?
-what would it cost me to go numb, and why haven’t i?

*anger increases energy and boundary clarity. suppressed anger turns into panic or collapse. anger needs rails, not suppression. anger can often be the fuel we need to engage in change making. channel anger into bounded actions with a beginning and an end.
-20 minutes of writing the angriest thing you cannot post
-ripping cardboard, breaking sticks, tearing old mail
- loud music + movement with a clear stop time

*find and choose small domains of absolute control.oppression removes agency. Restoring even symbolic control reduces learned helplessness.
-clothing you wear only when you need to feel armored
-one daily ritual done the exact same way
-a “no-consumption hour” with no news or social input

*shift from calming to orienting and bracing. for people under threat, calming can feel like submission. Bracing restores dignity and readiness.
-press your feet into the floor and push back
-one hand on sternum, one on back (front/back orientation)
-lean against a wall and feel its resistance

*be witnessed without being “fixed.” isolation is a tool of harm, witness disrupts it. no reassurance allowed, only recognition.
-“can i tell you what today felt like without solutions?”
-group texts that say “still here” instead of “how are you?”

*anchor to specific future selves and the future, not abstract hope. hope can feel fake. responsibility to your future self doesn’t. these are not optimism. they’re small actions that assume a future, even if you don’t believe it emotionally. our nervous systems learn safety backward, through action, not belief or feeling.
- “three months from now, i want my body to still trust me.”
-“i want future-me to know i didn’t abandon myself.”
-plan things for months away, make appointments, etc.
-renew something.
-plant something slow growing.

*mourn deliberately. unprocessed grief becomes hypervigilance. ritual metabolizes it.
-write a eulogy for what you believed america was
-light a candle weekly for what’s being lost
-create art that holds rage and sorrow together

*consciously refuse certain expectations. refusal restores autonomy when compliance is demanded.
-refuse politeness when unsafe
-refuse to explain your fear to skeptics
-refuse productivity as a measure of worth

*track what actually dysregulates you. this shifts the question from “what’s wrong with me?” to “what is my body responding to?”
-policies, headlines, uniforms, phrases, sirens, language
-then design your life to reduce those, not your feelings.

*record moments that prove you are not just surviving. authoritarian stress rattles identity. this honors complexity.
-a laugh that surprised you
-a small act of defiance
-a moment of connection

*practical readiness as grounding. preparation reduces panic, obsession increases it.
-know your rights
-keep documents organized
-make contingency plans once, then stop revisiting unless necessary.
-connect with community
-attend online or in person trainings to be in community with others that are feeling the same way and active.

*let your life get smaller without shame. burnout serves oppressive systems. conservation is resistance.
-less news, fewer opinions, narrower focus
-survival seasons are not personal failures

we’re in this together.

12/24/2025

12/24/2025

and it’s also ok if connecting with gratitude is hard. or you can’t at all sometimes. be kind to you. this season can bring so many different feels with it, that can exist simultaneously. ❤️

12/17/2025

11/27/2025

sending comfort. be kind to you today (and everyday), if this is you.

10/22/2025

oh, this. this. this.