How to Follow Politics Without Losing Your Mind

Keeping abreast of what’s happening politically right now is maddening. Practically everything may feel uncertain, from individual freedoms to international stability.

It may be tempting to capitulate to our sense of helplessness or hopelessness, doom-scrolling our days away until our entire being is saturated by contemporary chaos.

But this doesn’t have to be the case. Nor should it be. There are practical ways to regain a sense of stability and control, no matter what’s going on around you. If you’d like to feel a bit more stable in the face of 24/7 bad news cycles, consider the following strategies.

Write out your concerns.

All of them. Getting worries onto (actual) paper can help you feel less overwhelmed by organizing and visually containing what would otherwise be scrambling around in your mind and scattering your attention. Itemizing your issues externalizes them, granting you a needed bit of distance.

Rate your distress.

Score every worry on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most unbearable distress you’ve ever felt and 1 being mildly uncomfortable. Depending on how many worries you have, this could take a few tries. Circle those with distress levels in the 6 to 10 range.

Rank order concerns by urgency.

Which issues feel most urgent? Pick three to five and rank them, from most to least urgent (though not unimportant). This doesn’t have to be perfect. Just give your best estimate.

Pick one issue to tackle.

You can’t solve all the world’s problems. But you can direct your energy and free time towards a cause you believe in. And you’ll have more capacity if you’re not scrambling to address every concern you listed. From the items you circled and rated as most urgent, which one would you like to prioritize?

Identify and act within your sphere of influence.

Determine your sphere of influence by identifying the people you can reach (your potential audience) and doing something that positively influences the cause or group you’re concerned about.

It’s okay if your sphere is small. Maybe you simply hold space for someone who is feeling very ostracized and frightened by new policies. Maybe there’s a volunteer group to participate in.

Maybe you turn your angry Facebook or X rant into a letter to the editor or an op-ed. Share information with someone who isn’t as aware of the issue as you are. Heck, run for office, work for a political campaign, contact your representative. Donate money. There’s a lot you actually can do based on your resources.

Take news breaks.

If you truly want to absorb and make use of the information being broadcast over multiple channels and learn something from it, take a breather from the news. Research shows we retain more information when we take breaks from learning. Pauses also help us maintain sanity. Schedule one day a week where you take in no news. In addition, or as a starter, if one whole day off seems too daunting, limit the time you consume news to several times a day and have a cut-off point. Ideally, one to two hours before bedtime, especially if you’re having issues sleeping.

Do things you enjoy.

To buffer yourself against anxiety, depression, existential dread, and panic, you need to get out of your house, off your couch, and into environments and situations that help regulate your nervous system. That is: You must surround yourself with people, places, and things that bring you joy, make you feel connected, and (most importantly) take your mind off the chaos being trumpeted across televisions, smartphones, and radios across the world. This isn’t avoidance. It’s recharging and grounding.

Embrace community.

Seek others who get where you’re coming from and share your concerns. Discussing what you’re worried about, what you’re feeling, and how you can each keep each other afloat or hopeful amid uncertainty is essential for your stability. Regularly engaging with communities in which you feel seen and accepted not only improves well-being but also improves resilience to stress. Social support buffers us against the adverse effects of global and political situations that feel completely out of control. When we perceive ourselves as less alone, we feel safer. And from that place of increased safety, we tend to make better decisions and feel more emotionally regulated.

Avoid echo chambers.

One caveat to the community factor: It’s all too easy to catastrophize with people who have an equally dire outlook on the future as you do. While it can help to commiserate and get support, take a pulse on whether collectively venting about the trajectory of our country is making you feel better, or if you’re leaving these conversations feeling worse. Rumination doesn’t help us feel better and can increase our stress and anxiety, which ultimately prevents us from taking any productive action to mitigate or influence the issues we care about. Choose the people you spend the most time with wisely.

At the end of the day, it’s critical to remember that the sensation of chaos you feel is part of what the opposition wants. Do not allow yourself to be bamboozled by it. Do what you need to seek stability, employ the strategies above, and start to reclaim some of your power.

You will get through this.

You are stronger than you may know.