Staying calm during a wild week
I wish I had the secret for staying calm during periods of stress.
While I have shared a number of tips and techniques here for dealing with stress, anxiety, and sleeplessness, the fact of the matter is that sometimes it’s just not simple to stay calm.
And that turns out to be okay, regardless of the many articles out there that encourage you to remain calm no matter what.
I have come to realize that sometimes we just need to acknowledge what we are feeling. Feel it, name it, claim it, allow it to pass through you, and then move on.
This week is a rather unstable one for quite a lot of people. In the United States, the election is today. Maybe you like the way things are going, in which case you need to vote to ensure they stay the same. Or maybe (like me), you aren’t happy with the way things are going, so you need to vote for change. Either way, you need to vote.
And it is 100% fine for you to be fired up about your values and positions and candidates (if you are, in fact, fired up and ready to go). It is okay, too, for you to just be calm, or determined, or resolute. You do you, but I hope you will vote, or have already done so.
It’s only 100 years that women have had the legal right to vote in this country, and it’s been fewer years than that that all women have had the right and ability to vote in this country. Women legit went to prison to secure the right to vote for the rest of us, and they were extremely mistreated while there. So I hope you will honor our female ancestors (in truth or in spirit) by exercising this hard-won right.
Oh, and before I forget, I made this graphic for you:
This week is also hard for a lot of friends overseas. A good friend in Spain is already living under curfews in an attempt to limit coronavirus exposure. Many of my friends (and some of my family) live in the UK, where they are about to enter a month-long lockdown aimed at getting viral transmission to level off or start to decline. I worry about their physical and mental health, as they set their clocks back in the UK two weeks ago, and are already dealing with rapidly declining daylight.
I worry, too, about those of us here in the United States, where COVID trends tend to follow what happens in Europe, but on a two- to three-week delay. It appears that the dire warnings of medical doctors are proving correct as the number of cases begins to soar.
I mention all this not to be a downer, but to acknowledge what is, so that we can all figure out what to do about it.
Here are some things you can do to feel more calm and in control
Vote. It makes your voice known. Don’t forget to vote on any questions on the ballot (here in NJ, there’s an initiative to legalize marijuana, for instance), and for down-ballot representatives, which have quite a lot to do with how things work where you live.
Go back to this post from two weeks ago, and grab your pantry checklist so you can figure out what items you want to restock in your pantry or home.
Reread “What to do when everything feels hard” from last week.
If you need some tips to help you deal with anxiety, which can be common at this time of year as part of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), start with this post, “Feeling as anxious as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs?” and move forward.
If you need some tips to help you get to sleep or fall back to sleep more easily (if you are night-waking), then start with the post, “Eleven tips to help you sleep”, and move forward through the blog.
If you prefer books
I’ve got you covered with my two e-books, Lower Your Anxiety ($30) and 12 Tips to Help You Sleep ($20). You can buy both books for $35.
My wish for you is a way to find some calm for yourself. Lean into your self-care practices, so that you can have the fortitude to make it through the coming week.
I wish you strength. I wish you peace. I wish you moments of calm.
