Speaker 1: Hello everybody, well, welcome back to the show. Welcome back
Speaker 1: to the podcast, new listeners, old listeners, Wherever you are
Speaker 1: in the world, it is so great to have you
Speaker 1: here back for another episode, as we, of course break
Speaker 1: down the very important psychology of our twenties. I'm going
Speaker 1: to cut straight to the chase. Today. We're going to
Speaker 1: be talking about political anxiety and political uncertainty, something that
Speaker 1: I think we could all do with some more information
Speaker 1: about at the moment, and maybe some comfort as well,
Speaker 1: given the recent election. I just want to say straight
Speaker 1: off the bat from the top, this is not a
Speaker 1: space for any hate or negativity, and if you are
Speaker 1: listening to this episode with that intention, or you're looking
Speaker 1: to start an argument, you're looking to make a point,
Speaker 1: I would kindly ask that you move on to one
Speaker 1: of out many other episodes, just with respect for those
Speaker 1: of us who are feeling differently to you. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm recording this the day after the election, and I
Speaker 1: know that tensions are high. So if you were happy
Speaker 1: with the results of the election, then you probably don't
Speaker 1: need this episode, but there are people who do, and
Speaker 1: I hope that you can respect that For this moment.
Speaker 1: I just want to put that out there, because my
Speaker 1: focus with this podcast has always been on making people
Speaker 1: feel like they have a space to just feel their feelings,
Speaker 1: whatever they may be, as ugly, as horrible, as negative,
Speaker 1: as dark as they are. I just simply want you
Speaker 1: to know that you are not alone, and just to
Speaker 1: find ways for you to find peace within the turmoil
Speaker 1: of our twenties and beyond. And I think a lot
Speaker 1: of us need that right now. There is something very
Speaker 1: specific on a lot of our minds that is increasing
Speaker 1: that turmoil. You know, there is a lot of angst,
Speaker 1: There is a lot of stress anxiety to do with
Speaker 1: what the future holds after the outcome of this election,
Speaker 1: but also just in general when it comes to increasing
Speaker 1: polarization and division almost everywhere we look. I know a
Speaker 1: lot of us are concerned about our freedoms, our safety,
Speaker 1: our rights, what the future holds for us in many domains,
Speaker 1: you know, the environment, foreign policy, the economy, and just
Speaker 1: genuine empathy and kindness. In the world. We are seeing
Speaker 1: so much suffering and injustice and it is not a
Speaker 1: pleasant feeling to be sitting in, especially since that feeling
Speaker 1: in particular jeopardizes some of our very core needs as humans.
Speaker 1: We need to feel secure. We need to feel a
Speaker 1: sense of stability uncertainty. Our human brains don't like uncertainty
Speaker 1: because it triggers our survival instincts, which have very much
Speaker 1: evolved to help us avoid danger. You may think that
Speaker 1: these very ancient systems don't really apply when it comes
Speaker 1: to political outcomes or elections or anything of the sort,
Speaker 1: but it very much does. I don't know what is
Speaker 1: going to happen, and everything in your mind and your
Speaker 1: body is telling you that the outcome won't be good
Speaker 1: and it's going to be harmful to those that you love.
Speaker 1: This is something that you are going to be hyper
Speaker 1: vigilant towards. This is something that will trigger stress and
Speaker 1: the outcome of an election current. I don't know. Political circumstances,
Speaker 1: social circumstances, those are all very valid triggers. Our fight
Speaker 1: or flight response is triggered by major societal, political environmental change,
Speaker 1: especially when the stakes are high, and I think with
Speaker 1: recent events, often our fears can feel very unreal and abstract.
Speaker 1: And this isn't some abstract fear, This isn't some abstract
Speaker 1: scary thought. The fear for many of us it did
Speaker 1: come true. This could have consequences for us, and this
Speaker 1: definitely creates an even deeper emotional investment and acknowledgment of
Speaker 1: what's happened in the past and also fear around what
Speaker 1: could potentially and might actually happen in the future. There
Speaker 1: is a significant increase in fear that comes from that.
Speaker 1: And whilst we could typically call that catastrophizing, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe there is a tendency to think, you know, no,
Speaker 1: like this is just catastrophic, thinking it's not going to
Speaker 1: be that bad. I think some of our fears don't
Speaker 1: feel unrealistic, and that is a really scary thought that
Speaker 1: there is something that might be likely to occur as
Speaker 1: a result of this election, as a result of the
Speaker 1: political climate that we really don't want to face. And
Speaker 1: all of that is based in very human, very animal,
Speaker 1: very evolutionary anxiety that is meant to keep you safe
Speaker 1: in these moments, and that is meant to spur you
Speaker 1: on to do something. It's just that right now it
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like you can. So I just want to
Speaker 1: tell you what you are feeling is com deletely understandable.
Speaker 1: Distress is a very valid emotional response when it feels
Speaker 1: like the world is collapsing and it feels like that
Speaker 1: right now. I've received messages from so many of you
Speaker 1: saying that you feel so alone. It feels like society
Speaker 1: is going backwards, that this is not the kind of
Speaker 1: world that you want to live in. How can you
Speaker 1: plan for a future? What can you expect from your future?
Speaker 1: And I very much understand right now how very very
Speaker 1: hard it is to put into words all the scenarios
Speaker 1: that our brains are cooking up. There's also a real
Speaker 1: sense of political fatigue, you know, for all the progress
Speaker 1: that we've made, for how much hope we had, for
Speaker 1: how deeply we believe in what is right. Surely there
Speaker 1: is some way to fix this, but which is too
Speaker 1: exhausted to even think of it right now. There is
Speaker 1: just too many emotions running amok. There is just too
Speaker 1: much stress, almost paralyzing us. But we can't live in
Speaker 1: that distress and this anxiety forever. As much as it might.
Speaker 1: I feel like we're doing something about the problem. We're not,
Speaker 1: and that is the space that I want to move
Speaker 1: us into, the space where we can think more clearly
Speaker 1: about what we can do next. We can think more
Speaker 1: clearly about how we can look after ourselves, how we
Speaker 1: can approach this with a stoic mindset, with any mindset
Speaker 1: that helps us actually live. I guess essentially there may
Speaker 1: not be a way to fix what has happened, but
Speaker 1: there is a better way to cope, and there is
Speaker 1: a way to return to at least a sense of
Speaker 1: internal safety, even as wild things are happening outside, even
Speaker 1: as things in the future seem to threaten us. So
Speaker 1: from here on out, we are not going to talk
Speaker 1: about any specifics to do with the election, no specifics
Speaker 1: to do with politics. Our focus is just on how
Speaker 1: to take care of yourself and those that you love,
Speaker 1: and how to take care of your mind. That is
Speaker 1: our one job here from here on out. And I
Speaker 1: really just want to give you the space to have
Speaker 1: maybe a mental break from reading the news, from absorbing
Speaker 1: that kind of content and that kind of information, and
Speaker 1: instead give you some of the best psychology based tips
Speaker 1: for managing the elevated political anxiety and stress that many
Speaker 1: of us have at the moment. So, without further ado,
Speaker 1: let's get into this. Hopefully this is helpful. Hopefully you
Speaker 1: better understand the political anxiety you might be experiencing right now.
Speaker 1: The hardest thing to kind of come to terms with
Speaker 1: at this point is that you cannot change the outcome
Speaker 1: of what has happened, as much as you might want to.
Speaker 1: You know, the worry and the stress within you, it
Speaker 1: is calling you to act. It is naturally calling you
Speaker 1: to do something, to run, to fix the problem, whilst
Speaker 1: you kind of know that the thing that is causing
Speaker 1: your stress you can't fix that. You know you can't
Speaker 1: fix an election, you can't fix whatever the political state
Speaker 1: is that you're experiencing right now. The way that you
Speaker 1: could fix a conflict with a friend, or you could
Speaker 1: fix a screw up at work, these kinds of situations,
Speaker 1: these political global situations, they're very unique, and they're very
Speaker 1: rare in the impact that they have on us psychologically,
Speaker 1: because we don't typically have the skills in our toolkit
Speaker 1: to deal with something so big and scary that we
Speaker 1: can't actually do anything about. We're so used to everyday
Speaker 1: problems that might confront us, but which we naturally have
Speaker 1: a way through. So what we need in this situation
Speaker 1: is to essentially change our mindset. If we can't change
Speaker 1: our circumstances, we can change how we think about it,
Speaker 1: and we need to adopt a very counterintuitive perspective, which
Speaker 1: is that of a stoic. We need to almost and
Speaker 1: it feels unnatural, but relax into all that's terrible. I
Speaker 1: know that sounds confusing. I know that sounds like, yeah,
Speaker 1: just like be okay with it. But let me explain
Speaker 1: what that means. So stoicism is an ancient Greek philosophy
Speaker 1: that basically means weathering the storm that you cannot fight
Speaker 1: and just letting the waves roll over you. It's about
Speaker 1: basically enduring hardship even when it is completely utterly uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: because the alternative of fighting and struggling against what you
Speaker 1: can't control, that alternative is suffering. It's basically saying that
Speaker 1: when circumstances cannot be changed, the thing that you can
Speaker 1: control is the level to which you choose to suffer.
Speaker 1: Some level of suffering is not optional. But it's almost
Speaker 1: like when you are being beat down by waves, like
Speaker 1: in the ocean, and you're just like struggling to swim
Speaker 1: and you're struggling to get your head underwater, and they say,
Speaker 1: sometimes you just need to float. Right, That's what we're
Speaker 1: going to talk about now. This component is very important.
Speaker 1: You want to think about what you can't control because
Speaker 1: psoicism it does not mean putting your head in the sand.
Speaker 1: It does not mean to abandon all activism, to stop
Speaker 1: whatever you're doing. What it really teaches us is that
Speaker 1: we should only be thinking about what we can control,
Speaker 1: so our own thoughts, our own actions, our own responses.
Speaker 1: Everything else like others' opinions, external events like an election
Speaker 1: that is ultimately beyond our control. You know, we cast
Speaker 1: our vote, we educate our family and friends, maybe we campaign,
Speaker 1: but when the day is done, we can't control how
Speaker 1: anyone else sees the world. And that is so frustrating.
Speaker 1: Like I know, the feeling of talking to someone and
Speaker 1: just wanting to grab them and say like, can't you
Speaker 1: see what is happening in front of you? Can't you
Speaker 1: see this? Like this is not good? Use your brain,
Speaker 1: like can't you see this the way that I can
Speaker 1: see this? And that's not something that we have the
Speaker 1: power over all the time. So stoicism also encourages excepting
Speaker 1: when things are just shit. Things are just shit right now,
Speaker 1: but you choose despite it all to close your eyes,
Speaker 1: breathe in deep and find you're inner garden, find that
Speaker 1: place within you that no one can touch, that nothing
Speaker 1: can reach and sit within that space as everything kind
Speaker 1: of rages on outside. You have all of us have
Speaker 1: an inner sanctuary that we can kind of water that
Speaker 1: helps us endure and be resilient even in the hardest
Speaker 1: of times. I like to picture, you know, my inner
Speaker 1: stoic is this giant version of myself who is being
Speaker 1: yelled at by someone. Some person is yelling and screaming
Speaker 1: at me, and they are full of hate. But what
Speaker 1: they don't know is that there is this like shield
Speaker 1: around me that makes everything really muffled and slow. And
Speaker 1: as I'm watching them like sweat and scream and spit
Speaker 1: and get angry, I am untouched by it. I am
Speaker 1: just observing, even as that, you know, makes them more
Speaker 1: and more frustrated. This stoic version of me, this image
Speaker 1: is what I try and bring to these really uncomfortable, unfortunate,
Speaker 1: terrible situations like I'm a statue protected by a force field.
Speaker 1: And as I tune out what I can't control, this
Speaker 1: like very angry situation, this angry person, I am allowed
Speaker 1: to tune in and I am able to tune into
Speaker 1: what I can. So what are the things you can control?
Speaker 1: You can control your impact on people's lives. You can
Speaker 1: control the love that you show people. You can control
Speaker 1: what you give back to your community. You can control
Speaker 1: your activism, what you create, your vote, your current environment,
Speaker 1: what you choose to consume, what you choose to believe.
Speaker 1: And the biggest one for me is I can choose
Speaker 1: the kindness that I choose to bring to every city situation.
Speaker 1: And this is a really really important part of my
Speaker 1: life philosophy. One of the things that has brought me
Speaker 1: through political uncertainty in Australia. And you know, we had
Speaker 1: a recent I guess like referendum that was just absolutely
Speaker 1: terrible and what comforted me then when the world just
Speaker 1: seemed very very ugly and hideous, was that I continue
Speaker 1: to choose to make people believe in humanity and make
Speaker 1: them believe in kindness. Every person that I come across,
Speaker 1: I'm going to make sure they leave and that they
Speaker 1: know love, and I will make sure that they exit
Speaker 1: that interaction and they know that I respect them and
Speaker 1: I care about them like I will be kindness. I
Speaker 1: will put back into the world what I want to
Speaker 1: see more of. When we have this really deep personal
Speaker 1: philosophy in the face of political uncertainty and political anxiety,
Speaker 1: you know, that can lead to less stress, better mental
Speaker 1: well being, and a greater sense of agency or capability,
Speaker 1: almost like you have this very deep well that only
Speaker 1: you control and that you can pull from in every
Speaker 1: single circumstance. And there was an amazing meta analysis which
Speaker 1: is basically a study of studies about this very thing,
Speaker 1: about what it means to have a sense of purpose,
Speaker 1: and it was done in twenty twenty three by the
Speaker 1: American Psychiatric Association. And what they basically said, and what
Speaker 1: they found was that when you have a deep belief
Speaker 1: system and something that you trust and that you care
Speaker 1: about and that you can look at and say, that
Speaker 1: is why I'm here, this is what I'm going to
Speaker 1: bring to situations, it builds greater resilience, especially when you
Speaker 1: were exposed to negative or on certain situations like those
Speaker 1: that were seeing in these times, people who had this
Speaker 1: deep belief system that they could rest upon, they were
Speaker 1: so much more resilient and able to push through whatever
Speaker 1: was going on. And I really really encourage you to
Speaker 1: find your version of this. You can. You can steal
Speaker 1: mine if you want, go for it. Please go for it.
Speaker 1: Steal mine. But what is so important is that you
Speaker 1: have something, and you have something that feels like your
Speaker 1: own and that you can bring to your own universe.
Speaker 1: And your own universe is you know the radius around you,
Speaker 1: which goes on to touch everyone in your life, that
Speaker 1: goes on to enter rooms, that goes on to make
Speaker 1: an impact. Another part of embracing Stoic principles is really
Speaker 1: focusing on being present now. I did do a whole
Speaker 1: episode on this, I think a little while back, and
Speaker 1: I cannot remember the number from the top of my
Speaker 1: head worth listening to, especially right now. But part of
Speaker 1: knowing what you can control definitely means focusing on what
Speaker 1: is actually going on in front of you right now,
Speaker 1: and that really involves reconnecting with your senses. Just pause
Speaker 1: for a second. What can you see? I want you
Speaker 1: to look for like five things right now that are
Speaker 1: the color green? What is the furthest sound from you
Speaker 1: that you can hear? Really pause, what is that far
Speaker 1: away sound? What parts of your body are touching, your
Speaker 1: chair are touching, your steering wheel, touching the ground? Really
Speaker 1: like zone in on where like your skin is connecting
Speaker 1: to a surface and in your immediate surroundings right now?
Speaker 1: Is there any danger present in this moment, you know,
Speaker 1: in your room, in your car, at the gym, wherever
Speaker 1: you are, are you actually in physical danger? Is there
Speaker 1: something that is going to hurt you right now? And
Speaker 1: the answer is probably not. But the political anxiety we
Speaker 1: do feel does make us feel like at any point
Speaker 1: there is a threat that could come out and do
Speaker 1: you some serious harm, and we have to try and
Speaker 1: minimize that feeling. Yes, in the future, you may experience
Speaker 1: really hard challenges. There will be things that you cannot
Speaker 1: control that may hurt you, but right now you cannot
Speaker 1: be in that state of anticipating those things constantly. The
Speaker 1: pressure that you put on your body and your mind,
Speaker 1: and like the level of cortisol that you will have
Speaker 1: flooding through your systems, the way that your immune system
Speaker 1: is just going to be completely compromised by this constant hypervigilance.
Speaker 1: That is something that we really do need to minimize
Speaker 1: because then when something terrible does happen, If it happens,
Speaker 1: when something some big change does occur, what that's going
Speaker 1: to mean is that you don't actually have the resources
Speaker 1: to deal with it because you spend a lot of
Speaker 1: time worrying about it. So right now, I just want
Speaker 1: you to remember that in the space around you, you
Speaker 1: are not in danger. And in those moments when you
Speaker 1: do just feel like all of your emotions they're rising
Speaker 1: to the surface, they're like exploding. Really rely on the
Speaker 1: very ancestral old ways, the tried and tested ways that
Speaker 1: our body can calm itself by reconnecting with nature. Nature
Speaker 1: is just it's just so remarkable. In moments like this,
Speaker 1: I want you to go outside, like right now or
Speaker 1: after you finish this episode, take your shoes off, take
Speaker 1: your socks off, plant them like firmly in the dirt,
Speaker 1: in the grass in the creek, and you know, the
Speaker 1: saying like go and touch some grass, Like yeah, go
Speaker 1: and touch some grass. Turns out, you know, that's actually
Speaker 1: probably something we should be doing more of. There's actually
Speaker 1: some truth and some serious good to that. There was
Speaker 1: an article from twenty nineteen from Harvard Health and it
Speaker 1: showed that just doing twenty to thirty minutes in nature
Speaker 1: a day, making that part of your routine, or even
Speaker 1: just spending it in natural spaces like eating your lunch outside,
Speaker 1: it really helped lower hormonal stress levels because you know, nature,
Speaker 1: the outdoors, when you think about it like that is
Speaker 1: the environment in which we belong. That is where our
Speaker 1: body has naturally learnt to calm itself down. That is
Speaker 1: where it feels most real and most connected. So in
Speaker 1: those moments where like everything just feels so loud and
Speaker 1: angry and just so stressful, I need you to go
Speaker 1: and access this very important you know, deep part of
Speaker 1: you that can feel connected to nature and know that
Speaker 1: it is safe in that moment. This is also very
Speaker 1: very good for climate anxiety, if that is something that
Speaker 1: you're struggling with specifically right now, it can be very easy.
Speaker 1: And to someone who is very anxious about the climate
Speaker 1: and has many friends who are very anxious about the climate,
Speaker 1: it's very easy to disaster scenario, especially when you're like
Speaker 1: inside all day and when you're locked up in the office,
Speaker 1: it's like, ah, does nature still exists anymore? Because I
Speaker 1: don't see it, and all I'm reading in these terrible,
Speaker 1: terrible news articles like it just makes everything feel so
Speaker 1: much worse. So when you do give yourself the opportunity
Speaker 1: to go outside and see that there is a lot
Speaker 1: about oh nowrual world that is still alive. There are
Speaker 1: beautiful spaces that are still thriving, just brings you back
Speaker 1: for a second, I also have a friend who does
Speaker 1: like nature journaling, So she has a journal like notebook
Speaker 1: and a bunch of like colorful pens, and she will
Speaker 1: go out into nature and find a flower, a leaf,
Speaker 1: a river bed, a rock, anything beautiful, and she will
Speaker 1: basically journal about that situation that she's in, or s'll
Speaker 1: draw a picture of this leaf and it's actually really
Speaker 1: really beautiful, and she highly recommends it. So finding your
Speaker 1: stoic persona, finding your personal philosophy, and being as present
Speaker 1: as possible. Those are my first three tips. We are
Speaker 1: going to take a short break, but when we return,
Speaker 1: we're going to discuss my final three ways that we
Speaker 1: can deal with our political anxiety at this time, So
Speaker 1: we will be right back in just a second. Following
Speaker 1: really big political events or at like significant turning points,
Speaker 1: when something major happens, our tendency is just to get
Speaker 1: as much information as possible, to find any news site
Speaker 1: or any story that may tell us something that we
Speaker 1: don't know. Such a human instinct to know more is
Speaker 1: to be more aware, and is to be more capable
Speaker 1: and more able to survive. That is really where our
Speaker 1: hunger for knowledge, especially in these situations comes from, and
Speaker 1: we feel very like bitterly and strangely soothed by knowing more,
Speaker 1: even when the thing we know more about actually makes
Speaker 1: us want to like scream and throw up. That is
Speaker 1: how I felt the entire day. The other day was
Speaker 1: just like, Wow, I can't get away from my phone
Speaker 1: even though it's making me physically sick. That is the
Speaker 1: paradox of doom scrolling, spending so much time online and
Speaker 1: looking for more information and more sides to like an
Speaker 1: unfolding story that we actually end up hurting our mental
Speaker 1: health more than helping it. It is so easy to
Speaker 1: fall into this trap, and it's one that I certainly
Speaker 1: have over the years, glued to my phone even when
Speaker 1: I know that I'm just gonna feel worse. And the
Speaker 1: trick is to be informed but not overwhelmed. That is
Speaker 1: your equation, informed but not overwhelmed, And we do that
Speaker 1: by limiting how much you are allowed to keep investigating.
Speaker 1: I want you to have environments or points in your
Speaker 1: day when you are kind of allowed to be dead
Speaker 1: to what is happening in the world, whether that means
Speaker 1: unfollowing like news accounts on social media, so that you
Speaker 1: can only read the news on your laptop at work,
Speaker 1: so that you know outside of business hours, like you
Speaker 1: can't read the news. You know, you're still informed, you
Speaker 1: still know what's going on, but do you really need
Speaker 1: to know right now? In this instance, as soon as
Speaker 1: you wake up? You know, I found that to be
Speaker 1: so terrible for me. I would wake up, pick up
Speaker 1: my phone, and it's like, here, this is a disaster.
Speaker 1: Here is like a bombing. Here is like you know,
Speaker 1: children dead, here is whatever, like here is Trump winning.
Speaker 1: I know I said I wouldn't talk specifics. I'm very sorry,
Speaker 1: but you know, when you wake up and that is
Speaker 1: the first thing that you see, what you consume is
Speaker 1: how you feel. It's very much like your media diet.
Speaker 1: If your media diet is very high in tragic, awful,
Speaker 1: cruel things, your tiny brain, your human brain, it cannot
Speaker 1: hold all of that at the same time. You are
Speaker 1: not meant to hold all of that information at the
Speaker 1: same time. Truly, like think back to how we have
Speaker 1: evolved to seek information and from who it was tribal,
Speaker 1: It was limited, There was not enough. You know, you
Speaker 1: were never going to have enough information at that given
Speaker 1: point to feel like you knew everything that was going
Speaker 1: on in the world, because you you know as much
Speaker 1: as like it's a good thing that we do know
Speaker 1: so much more about our fellow humans and what they're
Speaker 1: going through. You have to just remember that your brain
Speaker 1: has not evolved to have as much access to information,
Speaker 1: So it is natural if you just feel completely confronted
Speaker 1: by that, and especially when our news seeking gets very excessive,
Speaker 1: you will become burnt out, you will become fatigued. So
Speaker 1: for the sake of yourself and for the sake of
Speaker 1: having energy and effort to put towards really important things,
Speaker 1: to put towards those you love, to put towards your community,
Speaker 1: to put towards yourself, you do need to find a
Speaker 1: healthy relationship with not just what news you access, but
Speaker 1: when you access it. So again, informed but not overwhelmed. Also,
Speaker 1: just sprinkle some good news in there, you know. There
Speaker 1: was a landmark study from just a few years ago
Speaker 1: from a university in Alabama, and it found that people
Speaker 1: who share and access positive news stories mixed in with
Speaker 1: their normal news. After two weeks, they reported being happier
Speaker 1: and more emotionally stable. They felt more optimistic about the
Speaker 1: future than those who didn't, and it didn't mean that
Speaker 1: they didn't care. I think sometimes we're like, oh, if
Speaker 1: I feel optimistic, well, then I'm not going to be
Speaker 1: motivated to change anything. I'm not going to be motivated
Speaker 1: to having conversations. I'm just not going to care anymore. Actually, no,
Speaker 1: we need optimism. We need to believe that things can
Speaker 1: get better. We need to believe that the world can
Speaker 1: be brighter. We need optimism more than we need pessimism
Speaker 1: in times like this. So just remember, if you're feeling
Speaker 1: like shit, your media diet might be a factor because
Speaker 1: you are what you consume. So if you need a
Speaker 1: rest day from chaos and tragedy, no one's going to
Speaker 1: blame you. No one's going to say that you're being
Speaker 1: naive or ignorant. You're having a rest day. It's okay.
Speaker 1: And you know, on a similar point, just as we
Speaker 1: are what we consume, we are also who we surround
Speaker 1: ourself with the power of community in times when we
Speaker 1: are experiencing political anxiety. Cannot be overstated. Community is the
Speaker 1: most psychologically important thing in times like this. And I
Speaker 1: know that is a big statement to make, but I
Speaker 1: just think that it heals so much. It is so
Speaker 1: protective when it comes to our mental health during periods
Speaker 1: of political uncertainty in crisis, and it's so hard going
Speaker 1: through anything alone, let alone, what feels like the world ending,
Speaker 1: let alone, what feels like a complete shift from what
Speaker 1: you expected. So this is really the time to engage
Speaker 1: and connect even when you want to withdraw. And I
Speaker 1: will say that is a problem that I have when
Speaker 1: I am emotionally confronted by something, when I'm quite stressed,
Speaker 1: I just feel like I have absolutely nothing in the
Speaker 1: tank to give to my relationships. So I self isolate.
Speaker 1: I will pull away, I'll hide away in my house.
Speaker 1: I don't want to see any I don't want to
Speaker 1: talk to anyone. I don't want to make plans. I'm
Speaker 1: not replying to messages. It's a terrible habit of mine,
Speaker 1: one that I'm trying to break. And the way that
Speaker 1: I'm trying to break it is just consciously being like remembering,
Speaker 1: consciously remembering that when I am around people, I do
Speaker 1: feel better. Remembering that cause an effect that always typically
Speaker 1: typically happens. I don't feel better when I self isolate.
Speaker 1: I do feel better when I'm around other people, especially
Speaker 1: people that I trust, that I love, that care for
Speaker 1: me and I care for them. That is community, That
Speaker 1: is belonging. I will say at the moment, there is
Speaker 1: a tendency and I found this in my friendships to
Speaker 1: just like catch up and everyone just has like it's
Speaker 1: just like what the fuck is happening, and just like
Speaker 1: wants to talk about so much stuff and just wants
Speaker 1: to you know, just wants to just get it off
Speaker 1: their chest. That's healthy. There is a healthy level of
Speaker 1: complaining and seeking comfort, especially just feeling shitty together. That's
Speaker 1: sometimes just one of the most healing things in the
Speaker 1: world is just to be like, great, can we both
Speaker 1: agree that we're not in a good mood? Can we
Speaker 1: both agree that we're not feeling great? Beautiful? Now I
Speaker 1: just feel a little bit less alone. But I do
Speaker 1: just want you to be conscious of when it gets
Speaker 1: to a level where you just feel entirely hopeless. That
Speaker 1: kind of like collective anxiety that we tend to feel
Speaker 1: when we are in a big group or talking to
Speaker 1: our friends and everyone's just getting more and more angry
Speaker 1: and frustrated and scared. That is a symptom of when
Speaker 1: group psychology kind of lets us down. You know, it's
Speaker 1: not groupthink, It's basically just that when we are around
Speaker 1: people that we are close to we do tend to
Speaker 1: absorb their emotions and that tends to heighten our own
Speaker 1: reactions to things. So please be conscious of it. Be
Speaker 1: aware of it. I think that having a rent, having
Speaker 1: a debrief, just getting it off your chest, it's like
Speaker 1: a plateau, like it gets healthy to a point. No,
Speaker 1: it's almost like a wow, I can't remember my math,
Speaker 1: but it's almost like an upside down you and someone's
Speaker 1: gonna tell me what that is. I just can't remember
Speaker 1: it right now. But it gets it feels healthy to
Speaker 1: a point, and then we flip over and we go
Speaker 1: down the other side. There is a limit, so be
Speaker 1: aware of when it's doing more harm than good. I
Speaker 1: really learned this from my mom, and I learned this
Speaker 1: with my mum. Sometimes she is so passionate about these things.
Speaker 1: She is such a huge, you know, political and social activist,
Speaker 1: and she cares so deeply about every single human on
Speaker 1: this earth that sometimes and I know this is going
Speaker 1: to sound insane, but it's too much. It's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I cannot talk about this at dinner for the fifth
Speaker 1: night in a row. I cannot yet, because I'm going
Speaker 1: to get angry. I'm gonna get really frustrated, I'm going
Speaker 1: to just feel like so sad and so like it's
Speaker 1: you know, it just can't do that, you know, there
Speaker 1: has to be a break for me. So I often
Speaker 1: just say to her, like, we're going to do five
Speaker 1: minutes where you can talk to me about we can
Speaker 1: talk to each other about you know, what kind of
Speaker 1: terrible news story is going on, and we can talk
Speaker 1: about politics or you just talk about whatever we want
Speaker 1: to do with this thing, and then we have to
Speaker 1: have a break because I don't want my relationship with
Speaker 1: you to be defined by feeling a heightened level of
Speaker 1: stress every time that I walk away, because I feel
Speaker 1: like all the world's problems are resting on our shoulders.
Speaker 1: So step away from conversations when you're at your limit
Speaker 1: and truly ask yourself. I know it feels like a
Speaker 1: selfish question, but do ask yourself like is this going
Speaker 1: to change anything? Is this going to change anything? Listening
Speaker 1: to this for like the fifth time today getting upset
Speaker 1: about it again, is it just going to make me
Speaker 1: feel worse? And is it just going to mean that
Speaker 1: when it does come to doing something, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to have the energy for that. This is really what
Speaker 1: I want to finish on You need to do something
Speaker 1: with your anxiety, and the best way to do that
Speaker 1: is to start giving back. This is a perfect time
Speaker 1: to really reflect on what you can be doing for
Speaker 1: those that need it. Our anxiety and distress, it does
Speaker 1: feel worse when we sit in it, and when we
Speaker 1: let it get bigger and bigger and bigger. By thinking
Speaker 1: that we can outthink all of the world's problems, that
Speaker 1: we can outthink how shit the situation is. When we
Speaker 1: can find a way out, We're going to return to
Speaker 1: those principles of stoicism. Concern yourself with what you can
Speaker 1: do and what you can control, and we can control
Speaker 1: what we give back. Really start to think about a
Speaker 1: cause that you could get involved in that makes you
Speaker 1: feel like you can make a difference in your local community.
Speaker 1: Think we really don't acknowledge how much actually gets done
Speaker 1: on the backs of people who volunteer their time and
Speaker 1: who care deeply and give their energy and give their
Speaker 1: passion and give their money to a cause that they
Speaker 1: care about. And oh, my goodness, do they not make
Speaker 1: the biggest difference in some people's lives. I want you
Speaker 1: to find that thing, that thing that really really drives
Speaker 1: you and often here's a little tip about how you
Speaker 1: can figure that out. The thing that is most upset
Speaker 1: you about the situation, the thing that you feel most
Speaker 1: upset to see threatened, That is what you care about
Speaker 1: the most, What makes you the angriest, what makes you
Speaker 1: the most anxious, what really like lights of fire in
Speaker 1: terms of your sense of justice, that is where you
Speaker 1: should be devoting your time. Want to take all those
Speaker 1: feelings and transfer them into a way of giving back.
Speaker 1: That is just one of the biggest antidotes I have
Speaker 1: found to any form of anxiety, really, but political anxiety
Speaker 1: in particular is really and I just want to hammer
Speaker 1: this home. You cannot control. There is so much you
Speaker 1: cannot control, but your little slice of your world, your
Speaker 1: little universe, you can control that, and you can give
Speaker 1: back and you can make that space happy. And you
Speaker 1: can change people through small daily actions of kindness, and
Speaker 1: you can, like you can seriously change their lives. You
Speaker 1: can change people's lives by volunteering, by giving back to
Speaker 1: your community. Feel like it always, you knows, being global citizens,
Speaker 1: having so much access to the news, it feels like
Speaker 1: we have to do something big constantly, and we have
Speaker 1: to be like, you know, there's so much that's bad
Speaker 1: about the world, Like, how do I fix it all?
Speaker 1: You can't. I'm sorry you can't, but you can. You
Speaker 1: can focus on something that the people around you need
Speaker 1: and be that solution in your local area and in
Speaker 1: your friendship groups and with your family. I also just
Speaker 1: want to say a final reminder. It does feel really
Speaker 1: scary right now. I know that there are a lot
Speaker 1: of unknowns, and I think a lot of us are thinking,
Speaker 1: how am I going to be able to cope with this?
Speaker 1: What's the way forward? Remember that you are capable. You
Speaker 1: will find a way through. You will survive. You will
Speaker 1: be okay even when it feels like you won't be.
Speaker 1: There are people who love you, there are support systems,
Speaker 1: There are people who are on the same page as
Speaker 1: you who are not going to abandon you. So just
Speaker 1: focus on the good as much as you can right now.
Speaker 1: Political anxiety and political uncertainty is an incredibly natural reaction
Speaker 1: to changing circumstances that feel threatening and dangerous, and it's
Speaker 1: okay to be feeling that way right now, but you
Speaker 1: cannot exist in that space forever. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of things that I hate to say, like it's not
Speaker 1: that you have to get used to them. But it's
Speaker 1: kind of like, Okay, cool, can't change that. What can
Speaker 1: I change? What can I do? Let's focus on that.
Speaker 1: Let's really really lean into my friendships, my community, my kindness,
Speaker 1: my purpose, my beliefs. This is something that's going to
Speaker 1: be very nourishing for me for this time. So I
Speaker 1: am just sending a whole lot of love and a
Speaker 1: whole lot of comfort. I hope that this episode has
Speaker 1: just given you a bit of peace today, made you
Speaker 1: feel a little bit better about the world, made you
Speaker 1: feel like there is a space or you can come
Speaker 1: to throughout whatever happens. You know, for comfort and for
Speaker 1: peace and for safety. You're always welcome here. Your mental
Speaker 1: health is respected and cared for here and will always
Speaker 1: be cared for. And I just love that we have
Speaker 1: such a beautiful little slice of the internet. So thank
Speaker 1: you so much for listening. I hope you got something
Speaker 1: from this episode. I hope you enjoyed it as always.
Speaker 1: If you did, please feel free to leave a five
Speaker 1: star review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you're listening right now,
Speaker 1: make sure that you are following along for new episodes.
Speaker 1: I'm going to do an episode specifically on doom scrolling
Speaker 1: in a couple of weeks, because I feel like that's
Speaker 1: something that you know, I just couldn't get into and
Speaker 1: want in like in this episode, there's so much information
Speaker 1: about it psychologically, emotionally, like scientifically, sociologically as well, So
Speaker 1: stay tuned for that episode, And if you have anything
Speaker 1: more you want to say and any suggestions for episodes,
Speaker 1: you can DM me at that Psychology podcast. We would
Speaker 1: love to hear from you over there. Until next week,
Speaker 1: Stay safe, stay kind, and the most important of all
Speaker 1: this week, be gentle with yourself. We will talk very
Speaker 1: very soon.