If you’re feeling post-election anxiety, you are NOT alone. Many Americans are feeling extremely overwhelmed, anxious, and depressed post-election.
A recent report from the American Psychological Association showed that 77% of people surveyed reported the future of the nation as being a significant source of stress for them. The impact of political stress is clearly affecting many people, and our mental health is suffering.
It’s necessary to check in and take care of your mental health.
Emotions Come and Go
The important thing to understand is that emotions are temporary. Although they feel like they will last forever, they don’t. In fact, some research indicate that emotions really only last up to 7 minutes long in the body. Every 7 minutes or less, your current emotion will end and you’ll have the opportunity to change the way you feel. Whether it is anger, anxiety, or sadness, they all expire.
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard brain neuroanatomist, says the physiological lifespan of an emotion in the body and brain is even shorter at 90 seconds. It takes 90 seconds for the chemical components of the emotion to dissipate from the blood and the automatic response to be over. If you continue to feel fear, anger, or anxiety, you need to look at your thoughts as it is them which keep re-stimulating the circuitry resulting in a prolonged physiological emotional response.
So next time you feel a negative emotion, comfort yourself in knowing that the feeling is only temporary. It is the thoughts which we attach to the emotions which we need to work on. Learning how to stop layering your thoughts is a critical skill to learn for your health and well-being, as it will significantly reduce your suffering.
Activate Your Nervous System
The next thing you want to do is activate your Parasympathetic Nervous System to calm your body and mind down. The Parasympathetic Nervous System puts the “breaks” on the Sympathetic Nervous System’s fight and flight response. There are many easy ways to activate this such as crying, singing, gargling water, getting a massage, or taking a cold shower.
Once you get into your Parasympathetic State, you will be able to “rest and relax.” This will help you ease both your body and mind down and allow you to catch your breath. You will then be able to process better what you are currently feeling. Allow yourself to work through your emotion and not avoid it. When we avoid feeling our emotions, they only get bigger and spin out of control. If you feel angry or sad post-election, allow yourself to FEEL the emotion. Sit with it, process it. The more you go around the emotion, the more it stays there. You can only avoid emotions for so long before they begin to bubble up and start to interfere in your life.
Control What You Can
It is also important to understand that worrying is usually not based on facts, but is often the fear of the future. When taking charge of anxiety, it is important to understand that we cannot control the future and learning how to tolerate uncertainty is a critical part of good mental health.
You can also start thinking about actions you can control. Perhaps it’s calling friends, volunteering, reading a book, etc. It does not mean that you have to agree with the outcome or completely ignore it either, but taking care of your health is a priority.
For more help managing your emotions and taking charge of your anxiety, check out my latest book The Instant Anxiety Solution where I teach 5-step A.L.A.R.M. program to help you get control of your anxiety. You can also visit me at www.michellebiton.com or follow me on Instagam @bitonmichelle.
Michelle Biton is a Health and Wellness Coach and Educator. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, Master’s Degree in Holistic Nutrition and a Certificate in Kinesiology, Health and Fitness Studies. She has been invited to write for the Encyclopedia of Natural Health, Alive Magazine, a variety of online publications, and has been featured on various television, radio shows and magazines as a health and fitness expert. She is the author of The Instant Anxiety Solution.
