Your (election) stress is directly related to 2 brain functions

And once you know that, it gets a lot easier

Know and Do.

These are the two things your brain wants on the daily. Once we understand this, we can understand how to mitigate the stress of not being able to perform these two functions. Let’s break it down.

KNOW

Your brain wants certainty. It wants to know what is around every corner, literally and figuratively. When you don’t know what’s coming, you go into threat mode. Your brain becomes hyper vigilant and you feel your stress (sympathetic) system on overload.

If you live in the US right now, you know that we are experiencing a collective sense of not knowing what will happen in our election. It’s in a dead heat and with less than two weeks to go, it feels like it only gets more stressful. It feels to me like the biggest election of my lifetime.

But this applies to any experience of not knowing…Not knowing if you will get into the college you desire, not knowing your diagnosis as you await test results, not knowing how a big presentation or work project will go, and on and on. (Life secret: we usually don’t know what’s around the corner, it’s just sometimes we pay attention to that not knowing and other times, we are okay with it depending on the stakes)

It feels the same as not knowing if someone threatening is standing around the next corner. Scary and dangerous.

Once you understand that your brain is just trying to protect you, you can do something to mitigate this threat response while waiting for the outcome of the election or any other waiting game.

What to know about not knowing….

Give your brain a piece of certainty to pacify, to calm it in the waiting game.

In my book, Joy Is My Justice, one way I talk about how to do this is with simple rituals. The neuroscience is clear that even small ones offer a piece of certainty each time. They become a soft and trusting place to land when the world doesn’t feel this way. It can be as simple as finding something you do each morning or evening that is something your brain knows to trust. A walk, a chat with someone you love, a cup of tea or even lighting a candle and doing a short meditation or prayer before you start work. This does not have to be ornate. Just predictable.

These rituals give your mind and body a soft place to land when the world feels too hard. They assure you that even though the world may not feel okay, you are okay in this moment.

DO

Your brain wants to DO something about the stress. It wants to take care of it, solve or manage the situation at hand.

Life secret: There is usually nothing you can do. And even when there is, you can’t think clearly enough to take action when you are clouded in the threat response.

Let’s take the election as an example since it’s top of mind. You can vote (PLEASE VOTE!), knock on doors, phone bank, donate or raise money, poll watch. Yes, there are many things you can do. But even after doing those things (and please do those!), often it is a waiting game right?

While you are waiting, your brain still wants to keep doing. And the two most common ways your brain does something when there is nothing to do are to WORRY or SCROLL.

Worrying is your brain’s protective mechanism. It’s sweet of it to take care of you but as you know, the worry can downright harm you. It keeps you up at night, it raises your cortisol levels and it creates more and more anxiety. Scrolling is another form of worrying. “If I just keep up on it all, it will help somehow…”

What to do about wanting to keep doing…

Lower the input and raise the output on something healthier.

SCROLL LESS. Now is the time to do some control of how much news you ingest in your diet. YES, you need to be informed. But you do not need every article, every prediction, every new vile thing said about the candidates. You do not need all of this, I promise. Set a limit of how much time you will spend ingesting the news and set a time of the day where you will not ingest it at all. Maybe it’s right before bedtime when it activates you too much with worry. I did this the other night and got myself in a spiral. It was not good. Or maybe it’s for you the morning when you need to not let the news take over your day right from the beginning. Whenever you notice you need some help, set some limits.

LABEL THE WORRY. Start to acknowledge the worry. Once you notice it, label it. Aah, that’s worry. That’s my brain trying to care for me. But I can find something more productive. The neuroscience shows that labeling your emotions, simply naming them, dampens the threat centers and allows for more clarity.

GIVE YOURSELF SOMETHING ELSE TO DO. And label it as such. For me, it’s exercise or walking. I even say to myself beforehand, “I need to walk so I don’t need to worry.” I see and label it as an act of care for my brain and body. It’s as if you’re saying, “I’ve got you.” Maybe you garden, or do puzzles, or pet your dog. Find whatever you need to do and do it. Use it as a way to take up time you would have scrolled 😉

I can’t take away stress (I would be on Oprah by now if that was the case!) but I can help mitigate its effects. This is a collectively stressful time in the US and then we all have our own personal stressors every day. It’s critical we care for ourselves. And I hope this helps.

As an aside, if you’re in the US, this really is the most important election of our lifetimes. I do not make any secret that I am terrified that DT will win and threaten all of our freedoms that I hold so dear and basic to humanity. I am incredibly anxious and ALSO, I need to mitigate that so I think daily about these functions of my brain and how I can care for it tenderly as we wait for Election Day and beyond. (If you are doing any of the things like canvassing, phone banking etc, thank you! I’m right there with you)

Keep these two functions in mind with any stress. And join me in the comments. What change can you make to mitigate the anxiety of the world or your personal life? What do you see your brain trying to know or do? And especially if you feel challenged by any stress right now, let us know how we as a community can support you with tenderness or ideas if you need that. May we all have more ease in our days….