What do you do on a daily basis to further your political knowledge? Maybe it’s the daily New York Times or The Skimm. Or you turn on your Late Night Talk Show Hosts for the night’s review. In any case, a point of exhaustion arises – the coined ‘compassion fatigue’, TFS or ‘Trump Fatigue Syndrome’, or how I’ll put it as “Political Fatigue Syndrome’ (PFS).
To define the term, PFS is the overwhelming exhaustion towards politics. The sense of responsibility you feel regarding the nation’s current events that overpower your being. Your desire to go to protests, face on the world head on, post on social media, it’s the weight of the world on your shoulders.
But breathe. Take a minute. Today’s issues will be prevalent tomorrow, and with every step of progress is a step in the right direction.
It’s the journey not the destination.
So how to process this political journey in three ways.
Use Your Senses
Ground yourself in the day’s events. If you are at a high energy political event, it can be easy to be swept up in the noise around you. Take a second to process your six senses. both in relation to you and the event are you apart of.
- Sight
- What do you see.
- What is the energy like.
- Is it a safe environment.
- How would a painter, photographer, or artist see the image presented
- Hearing
- What are the voices saying
- Do you agree with what they are saying
- If there are too many senses, where is a place that would be quieter
- Touch
- Do you feel people around you
- Is there someone invading your personal space
- Focus in what you are holding. Your cell phone. Your wallet. A sign.
- Smell
- Do you smell smoke, or something your intuition warns you of
- Do you smell flowers, perfume, nearby food
- Taste
- Do you need a sip of water
- If you are overwhelmed, would chewing gum help
- Intuition
- What are some next steps you can take to reflect on this current moment – journaling, painting, dancing in your room
- What will the scene look like in 3 hours, 2 hours, 45 minutes, 5 minutes, 2 minutes.
- Think back on your past and the current situation
Self Care It Up
All humans benefit from self care. Though stereotypically a ‘feminine activity’ self care can be simply allowing yourself to explore outside of politics.
Yoga focuses on the breath. The present. But for someone like me that seeks the future, I find self care to be allowing myself to wander whatever thought comes to my mind. If I want to google interior design, historical figures, music tastes, nursing coursework, anything nonpolitical. Separating my political life from my personal life and investing my two beings enables me to focus on my current passions and explore future opportunities.
We are composites of layers and dedicating time to each layer of our being only benefits us as a whole.
Sure, self care can also look like your stereotypical bubble bath with candles, yoga at sunrise, or kickboxing. The concepts are the same, just different approaches.
Read History
This may seem interesting, but look how far we’ve come as a society. Since the early 1950s, women have made strides in their quest for equailty. The Civil Rights Movement fundamentally changed how we view our society. The LGBT+ movement demonstrated the fastest ever push for equality and societal acceptance.
Do we have decades needed to continue pushing for equity of all socioeconomic statuses, equal school systems, police reform to ensure no one falls victim to our police system, abolishing the deep rooted sexism in Greek Life, animal rights, etc. Yes. Yes. Yes, yes, and yes. However, remember where we started. The end is there, in sight, and the generations before us, our current actions, have gotten us closer than ever before to the light at the end of the tunnel.
History has only taught us the dates of success, and it leaves out the constant societal push towards that result. We will get there. Maybe not yesterday, today, or tomorrow, but the time is fast approaching.
Validate Yourself
Positive Self Talk WORKS. (Oprah does it, so you know it works).
Your frustration with your passion is real. You are also a confident, independent individual who is capable of taking on the world. Even the best leaders have a moment where their extreme sense of responsibility weighs heavy on their shoulders. Just like them, you will overcome. The cog of political passion and fighting for change is admirable, You will prove on top.
And it takes self confidence before all else. When times are hard, you stop, take a breathe, exhale, and take another step. We are all in this together, and if you need a resource to keep going, there exists thousands (including The College Voter) ready to bring you apart of their community. We are here to support one another in every endeavor.