Keep your commitment to self-care & ending systems of oppression.
Self-Care Guide for Post-Election Stress & Anxiety
This is a moment where We the People & the nation as a whole need healing.
It will be 75 days before our new President-elect and Vice President-elect are sworn into office. 2020 has been filled with times of crisis and uncertainty, which has led to many of us doom-scrolling, feeling stressed, anxious, and tired. We have been living through a once-in-a-century pandemic, lockdown, weakened economy, and tirelessly calling for America to get serious about preventing Black deaths at the hands of law enforcement.
Now winter is coming — as is seasonal depression, influenza, and post-election anxiety.
It’s a good time to rethink your relationship with technology, and focus on self-care and building your immunity. Allow yourself moments to stop, zoom out, and breathe.
Here are 6 holistic ways to stay healthy and sane in the wake of the 2020 US Election.
- Breathe life into the madness. Our anxiety can creep up when we take shallow breaths. Your breath is what grounds you to the Earth, take time to breath deeply. Incorporate any of the following into your daily breathing practice: meditation, journaling, praying, and practicing gratitude.
2. Movement! Exercise may be the last thing you want to do right now, but it has numerous benefits. Find movement you love and commit to an exercise or stretching schedule. Also, ‘e-motion’ does well with motion. Emotions are a form of energy, and keeping your body fluid allows your mind and heart to process things better.
3. Connect with nature. Get in touch with the harmonious ecosystem in times of chaos. Visit the ocean. Search: Thalassotherapy & Halotherapy. Visit a local park — big or small. Find a patch of green you can collect yourself in & breathe. Moon gaze. Stargaze. Look up & reflect on the majesty & grandeur of the sky above you. Forest bathe (shinrin-yoku): wander, let your body be your guide, follow your nose, take your time. Savor the sounds, smells, & sights of nature & let the forest “in.”
4. Pause & rest. Take a mental health day so that you can care for yourself and process the potential pressures of the upcoming presidency.
5. Nourish yourself & check-in with your gut. There are ~100 trillion microbes living with you at this moment. The roles these little bug-friends play are vast. While the mood+brain function is a huge topic on its own, know that something you have control over which largely affects this microbial-diversity-community is your diet.
- Remove inflammatory foods like processed sugars & industrial seed oils.
- Consider an elimination diet to assess triggering foods.
- Be intentional with what you consume. Work towards more plant-based home cooking. Think: fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and more root vegetables (beets, carrots, garlic, ginger, onions, sweet potatoes, and turmeric).
- Probiotics & digestive enzymes may help when adapting a more veggie-rich diet.
- Drink water 30 minutes before a meal, and 1 hour after a meal. Add ginger, turmeric, and lemon to water.
Bring food to community-share locations like fridges and food banks. Your community will need sustenance as well.
6. Check in with your support pod, aka “quar-pod.” See how everyone is holding up, or communicate if you are in need of others holding space for you. Cook together, hold a hand, smile, laugh, cry, and BE with them. Host a virtual game-night, book club, movie night, or “sip-n-paint.” Schedule a virtual therapy appointment or join online support groups.
Give yourself rest and grace as you keep doing the work: movement, healing, abolition, & decolonizing work. Stay healthy as you tend to yourself, your heart, and your community. Never forget that this is a marathon, not a sprint. 🏁
with love & care,
