Contact us at: whispernthunder1@gmail.comStaying Afloat in a Sea of Chaos
~ Carol Dixon
The past few months have been a tidal
wave of chaos that seems to be hitting
nearly everything we all care about. It's
hard to keep up with, and even harder to
figure out how to respond, if at all.
There is so much happening it's very overwhelming and stressful. What can we do to help stop this insanity and also save ourselves from physical and mental health problems caused by the stress of it all? I've done a lot of thinking about this because stress is a real issue that affects us emotionally, mentally and physically.
It's important to stay informed. But it's also important to stay in balance. If we try to deal with it all at once it's more than any of us can handle. My way of approaching it is to start with little things I know that I can help change. Pick one thing at a time and do what I can. I know I can share things on social media that help inform people and suggest ideas for them to take part in changing what's going on. I know I can get out and join in a protest. It makes me feel like I'm taking part in forcing needed change. Showing up and carrying a home made sign made significant differences in the Civil Rights movement, in getting out of the Vietnam war, in women's rights, and many other issues. People are starting to remember that now and we're seeing protests all over the country for various injustices. We can talk to people one on one who are starting to have “buyer's remorse” about their vote. We can help them see the truth. We can encourage them to get their information from sources other than obviously biased propaganda sites to balance their views. We can call and write our Congress representatives and our Senators, both at the state and national level. We can attend town halls if they're offered in our area and let our disapproval be known. We can pick a cause we hold dearly that is threatened and volunteer to help in whatever way we think we can to help sustain it. We can show encouragement and support for the younger generation to be involved, run for office, and claim their future before it's too late. Each of us can think of many more smaller actions we can take to make a difference. It may even be helpful to make a list of all that we have done or are doing, so when we start feeling helpless we can look at it and know we're doing our part.
The point of this is that if we only look at the big picture it's too much for us to deal with and way too big of an emotional or physical load for one person to carry. But if each of us finds individual actions that we can do to contribute to the overall effort to enact positive change it becomes a huge and powerful movement. We're all aware of towering heroes in our lifetimes. They are amazing leaders with a cause. But sometimes we forget that these great heroes were enabled by thousands/millions of individual heroes who were doing their part to make the change happen. Without those individual actions the movement would never succeed.
The other part of surviving this chaos is self-care. Even though we're doing small things we can handle to help enact change, we still need a break. We need to look around and find something we still enjoy and partake of it. Go for walks in nature. Listen to music that relaxes us. Enjoy some time with friends where we can laugh and relax. Make sure we get rest and relaxation in whatever form is best suited for each of us. That's what fuels us for the next round of action. The balance is important to being able to sustain the long fight in front of us. We must never give up hope. That's the goal of any oppressor...to make the oppressed give up hope and quit. We need to nurture our bodies and our spirits in order to stay strong.
May each of us find a way to stay healthy and strong, while finding our own “good trouble” to contribute to the big positive change we strive for.
Pertaining to all articles in Whisper n Thunder: Editor's Note: Authors commentaries do not necessarily reflect the views of Whisper n Thunder. However we stand strong in the belief that our authors have the freedom to express their well-thought out points of view and are grateful for same.