Surviving Election Anxiety
As we continue to await the results of the election, tension builds for many folk. No matter the results, this election will affect people all over the world. No pressure, right?
Now, we have to wait longer for the results…
So how can you survive until we know the results? What about AFTER we know the results? So many unknowns that make our lives stressful. Anxiety surfaces from those fears and depression tends to follow after your body exhausts itself from worry.
So how do we manage all that anxiety? Here are a few suggestions we offered on our social media a few days ago:
* Avoid Doomscrolling:
When election stress begins to impact basic functioning, such as diet and sleep, it’s important to enforce limits. This can look like restricting news consumption, or assigning periods of the day as election-free zones. If doom scrolling on social media is stressing you out, while talking to a friend is centering, do the latter.
* Dare to Hope:
Hope is an important part of maintaining mental health. Hope can strengthen your Anterior Cingulate, which helps you regulate your emotions. No matter who becomes the president, we have an opportunity to make the world a better place, at least the small space in which we live.
* Acceptance: No matter how long it takes to find a winner or who it is, Radical Acceptance helps us move forward with what we can control. We can only control our emotional and behavioral response.
* Limit social media consumption
* Limit news consumption
* Plan something relaxing:
Take a hot bath, work on a puzzle with your family, spend some time outdoors, listen to some music- do literally anything other than stare at social media or the news.
* Stay active:
Be sure to get some exercise. Activity has a way of disrupting rumination. Walking for 40 minutes a day can relieve a great deal of stress. it actually slows the aging process as well.
* Make sleep a priority:
Stick to your sleep routine. Avoid caffeine and alcohol. Remember, sleep is a self-regulating system. If you’re tossing and turning for more than 30 minutes, get up, do something relaxing for a bit, and come back to bed when you feel tired again.
If you find yourself needing to talk through more, please reach out to us here at Revitalist. We are ready to help.
