Love in the time of Anxiety
The rolling waves of anxiety and community building.
I just wanted to send a missive of love out into the world today.
I have been inhabiting rough seas and crashing waves of anxiety these last few weeks with an intensity I’ve never experienced. The aftershocks and trauma of 2016 have made it very clear that my cells remember and the existential dread of what has not happened yet has been hard to process. It’s been enough that just shaking it off isn’t a possibility and I’ve had to be more mindful about not blocking it and letting the chemical reactions of anxiety and fear move through my body.
The US election is about so much beyond the next President for its people. It affects all of us when it comes to action on climate in this crucial decade for making an impact on the future. It’s about global politics, tolerance for genocides, billionaires, xenophobia, disinformation, stability... And it’s really hard to only have a balcony seat to watch and not act directly. Thank you to everyone who are voting and working against the MAGA destruction.
Our US friends who vote hold a lot of responsibility in their hands this week AND, ALSO (my favourite words) we all have the responsibility to keep building community and take part in democratic action at every level and care for each other. My folks are off together voting in the civic elections in their small Canadian town today and they make me so proud.
No matter what happens tomorrow we have to keep doing that work. Our demands for systems to care for each other and the non-human world and our individual work to do the same are not completed only in the ballot box.
Today I wanted you to know that you aren’t alone. That the times are heavy and important and many people are feeling it. You are not strange for feeling it. You will not have to solve our problems in a silo of individualism.
Some things I’ve been practicing:
Talk to friends and support each other in the waves. They don’t hit us all at the same time or in the same way. When you have capacity check on a friend. Let people know when you need support (I know this is the hardest). Memes can be helpful ways of indicating your present state!
I learned a helpful technique for dissipating the chemicals of anxious chemical waves. Open your mouth wide and pronounce the letter “R” four or five times. I don’t know why it works but it does.
If you are currently safe, remind your body of that. I have such empathy for my body right now. It must be so confusing. I am warm and fed and all other indications are I’m ok and yet I’m feeling waves of anxiety that create a chemical bath in my flesh. Take the moments to sit and remind yourself you are currently safe. Speak it to yourself and allow your brain and senses to be in accord as often as you can.
You can also hit respond if you need someone to hear you. We get through this together.
Much love,
Susie