Curb Your Anxiety with Everyday Activism
This is a guest post written for and published in The Wardrobe Crisis.
Penn State psychology professor Janet Swim explains climate depression as something you experience when you get closer and closer to an anti-goal, like the destruction of our planet. The sense of powerlessness that comes with knowing about something so scary but not really doing anything about it morphs into a deeper state of anxiety and fear.
It's a challenging time to be a human today. Back in Shakespeare's day, you consumed the same amount of information in a lifetime as you can read in one issue of the New York Times today. And that's in a normal year, with normal news, not facing a global pandemic.
So how do we cope with all this anxiety-induced information? Do we dig our heads in the ground and try to stay there until it's all over? Do we pour ourselves another glass of wine to tune it all out while jotting down gratitude lists and sending prayers to our loved ones? We can, and I wouldn't be one to speak ill of wine and prayers, but if you want to live a healthy and happy life today, you have to act.
"Anxious people tend to be avoidant, or they shut down and don't engage," Professor Swim explains, and that is what we've witnessed for decades in the realms of climate change. You would think that growing evidence of a dying world would spark us to get to action, but psychological studies show the opposite, as explained in Per Espen Stoknes' book What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming.
More facts only lead to less concern, and people are less likely to change their behaviors and do something about the issue. It might seem hard to believe, but we've only dug ourselves deeper into the hole of complacency, the place where anxiety grows, and actions are rare.
There is no avoiding worldly issues like climate change today. No matter who you are or where you live in the world, it will affect you at some point, and that some point is moving closer in time. So the best way to live life on Planet Earth today is to step into the light of awareness and decide to do all you can to make it better.
One might think that awareness comes with pain too hard to handle, but we tend to forget that we're carrying that awareness regardless, showing up in the face of anxiety and depression. By facing it straight on, we get to turn it around and fuel it into action. And when you start to act on the things you believe in, when you become the change you wish to see in the world, rebel sanity starts to kick in. This sanity comes from the four happiness hormones - serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins - that all begin to flood when you show up for the work.
That is why integrating activism into your daily life isn't just about making the world a better place; it's about making you the healthy and happy human you can be, further empowering you to make this world something better.
In other words - the more good you do, the better you'll feel. And the better you feel, the better equipped you are to show up and do even more good. It's really just a beautiful cycle!
Don't worry - you don't have to become Greta and write speeches to Parliament to make a difference. Or create signs and take to the streets for that matter. The most significant change needs to happen at home base - in our local communities and hearts. Another reason we haven't done more about climate change is that it feels too distant in space and time, and like it's something individuals don't have the power to impact. By making it personal and talking about it in a way that resonates with people, action has a much better chance to manifest.
What we need today is not more science or advanced technology to save us all. What we need is people who care about life and our ability to thrive.
Moving towards a just and sustainable world is not only possible, but imperative if we are to survive, and all it takes is our human willingness to show up for the work. It takes your courage to question everything. It takes your guts to show up and your lips and tell yourself there's still a chance that we can get this right. And as long as you show up for it, there's still hope. So keep showing up - for yourself, for the planet, and all life on it.
Written by Anne Therese Gennari for The Wardrobe Crisis.
