Managing stress is hard enough in a global pandemic. And now we have a presidential election upon us, with all its noisy debates and rancor.
How can we keep ourselves from a perpetually negative, stressed state, and instead cultivate resilience and a sense of well-being in a time like this?
A recent article in The Atlantic by Arthur C. Brooks ( How to Protect Your Happiness This Election Season) discusses how watching political, divisive, hard news can decrease happiness. The article refers to a fundamental Buddhist truth taught 2500 or so years ago, about the detriment of having attachments, in particular, attachment to opinions:
I have lived through a dozen or so presidential elections (excluding early childhood). While they were all more or less acrimonious, it feels like emotions are more intense in this one, at an unprecedented level. It's happening during multiple crises, with our nation at peak levels of divisiveness.The Buddha himself named this attachment and its terrible effects … in the Aṭṭhakavagga Sutra, when he is believed to have said, “Those attached to perception and views roam the world offending people.” More recently, the Vietnamese Buddhist sage Thích Nhất Hạnh wrote in his book Being Peace, “Humankind suffers very much from attachment to views.”
And what is the divisiveness based on? … Opinions. Just as that Indian philosopher/prophet warned, millennia ago, we have become so attached to ours that everyone is offended, everyone suffering.
Moreover, sometimes those opinions aren’t even rooted in fact, especially on social media (and sometimes even The Media). As a former college English teacher, this alone is stress-inducing for me! Sometimes they are beliefs, believed to be factual, but the believer refuses to check for validity...
Opinions not grounded in fact don’t fall under the accepted adage, “Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.” This is my opinion, and belief!
Brooks discusses relationships where hard-held, opposing opinions can be especially problematic, such as between life partners, or when differing from his or her in-laws’ opinions. It was sad but not surprising when he noted that studies show many people stopped talking to certain friends and relatives after the 2016 election due to political views.
How can we protect our mental, emotional, and physical health from the added stress this election is causing? It’s actually easier than you’d think, although you may not like the suggestion.
Stop watching political news and engaging in related social media.
Every time we see/listen to a TV news story, or worse, engage with one played on Youtube or in social media, where we add our own comments or reply to (argue disparagingly with) those of others, we engage and experience negative emotions. Emotions like anger, frustration, disgust, condescension, ridicule, and just being judgmental are all tied to our stress response, including activation of the sympathetic nervous system. In fact, negative emotions are one of the easiest ways to recognize that we are in a stressed state.
The stress response is one where a different part of our brain takes charge of mind-body functions, changing how we think, perceive, focus, what memories we can access (negative mostly), what we pay attention to, and changes occur all over--in our cells, hormones, and other biological functions.
These all differ from when we are not stressed, when the parasympathetic nervous system is dominant, and that threat-based stress brain area is not in the driver's seat.
Of course, we all need to engage with politics in order to be an informed citizenry, crucial to the success of a democratic election. However, how many of you are actually undecided at this point?
One of the unique elements of this election, as unfortunate as that may be, is the polarization and divisiveness of US voters, and this is widely visible, thanks to social media and the plethora of news sources, real or fake. The difference between now and even 30 years ago is tremendous: multible 24-hour cable news stations, widespread internet use via "smart" phones with built-in cameras, texting, email, and of course, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. Combined with pandemic isolation and fear, high unemployment, and social unrest, the media can get overwhelming, and is stress triggering.
If you are firmly decided already, and nothing is going to change your mind about who to vote for, then do yourself a favor: tune out.
Limit news watching. Watch no more than 30 minutes a day, related to politics. Take a FB and Twitter break; at least shut off notifications from your social media accounts. Change the subject if politics and the election come up in your conversations with family and friends:
“Hey, can we not talk about politics?” you might say, if someone brings that up. (And I bet the other person will understand without further justification.)
Talk about something good or new in your life, or about something you appreciate these days. Share what you are doing that is positive and helpful this year, instead of sharing more negativity or stress.
What we talk about is our focus in the moment. And what we focus on affects our stress level, for good or bad.
It also instructs your brain, "This is what I like to focus on, so be on the lookout for more!"
Perhaps that is not the best mission to give you brain right now.
Laughing is good—there is even a yoga based on laughter! Humor can put you into positive emotions, although not sarcasm, which is negative-based. Enjoy whatever meal or snack you are having. Eat mindfully, savoring the taste, texture, appreciating who prepared it or who gathered or grew the food. This is so much more soothing than ruminating over how wrong so and so is about whatever…
Moreover, while in a positive emotional state, you dan't be stressed at the same time. The more you do it, ergo, the less you turn on stress. Positivity promotes this unstressed state, and gratitude is the gateway to all those positive emotions, including love, curiosity, creativity, focused engagement, awe, excitement, feelings of unity, oneness.
Letting go of social media or habitual news watching can be challenging, but then again, so is cultivating well-being in today’s world. It is just another highly effective, self-care technique you can use.
Brooks’s article cites a recent (2017) Dutch study on how hard news with a political slant affects happiness. The researchers “found that on average, well-being falls 6.1 percent [emphasis added] for every additional television hard news program watched a week. They explained this by noting the dominance of negative stories on such programs, and the powerlessness viewers might feel in the face of all that bad news.”
Anybody besides me experiencing the occasional sense of powerlessness lately?
Why let our happiness fall an extra 6.1% for each story we watch? Dang, no wonder so many people are grumpy, morose, and depressed.
Next time you find yourself turning on the news, opening social media, or binge-watching network news Youtube videos about Trump or Biden or any of this, notice what you are doing or about to do. And stop a moment. Close your eyes (unless driving) and take a slow deep breath.
Pay attention to the breath coming in, to your body as it holds the breath in, and then as you slowly release it.
Then see if you can spend two minutes, or even one, just paying attention to your normal breathing, in and out. Gently return your attention to this focus when any thought arises.
Repeat, often, throughout the day.
Or take a walk outside instead and notice bird song, the variety of colors of plants and trees, the sensation of the sun or temperature on your face.
Spending a few minutes focusing on input from your senses—smell, hearing, touch, sight, even taste, brings you out of your thoughts. And thoughts are where we tend to go dark and get stressed!
Perhaps, for a day, for a few weeks, decide to not check that FB or twitter account, not to play that political video or news story. Just for this moment, this one day, these a few more weeks.
Then make sure you calmly vote when it’s time to do so.
Elisabeth Carter, EdM, MFA, is a writer and stress-management trainer.
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