Radical Self-Care in a National Nightmare

Photo by Adam Winger on Unsplash

These days will kill you if you’re not careful.

As we walk headlong into this Category 5 shit storm that is a second Trump term, one thing is irrefutably clear already: it’s going to be much worse than we thought.

In just a few days, even the most pessimistic post-election predictions are proving to have woefully underestimated the scope and the velocity of the carnage to our systems of protection, our long-established structural institutions, and the elemental freedoms we’ve counted as givens.

The emotional whiplash of a relentless stream of diabolical Executive Orders, sociopathic domestic terrorist pardons, self-destructive economic moves, and pathological attacks on vulnerable people—is enough to level even the most measured and otherwise imperturbable among us.

In other words, our nervous systems weren’t built for for this very special kind of hell.

What that means, in rubber-meets-the-road practicality, is that all the normal tried and true avenues of self-care may likely prove insufficient.

Even if you are somehow able in this disorienting, perpetual state of national emergencies and existential crises to actually keep a strict regimen of sleep, good nutrition, hydration, exercise, meditation, prayer, time in nature, relational connection, artistic pursuits, therapy, and limiting media—you might still feel like you’re about a millisecond from completely losing it in any given moment. (I know that I am.)

Now, you definitely don’t want to abandon the above practices, as they’ll surely help tether you to health and sanity, but I want to suggest that you might want to philosophically make other alterations in light of the gravity of these days; some new daily commitments you can make to yourself to navigate the nightmare. Consider these:

Burn bridges to toxic people. It’s a noble thing to want to reach across lines of tribalism and to try and stay connected with those whose opinions differ from ours—but there’s a limit to what is healthy or possible. Recently, our friends, family members, neighbors, and co-workers have revealed with great clarity who they are. At this point, it’s perfectly fine to determine that some people, even people we know well and love are morally incompatible with us.

Have the damn dessert. Yeah, we all know that as a rule, emotional eating is a bad idea and that intentionally overindulging won’t be good long-term, but given the number of historic implosions happening right now and the uncertainty of so many things, it’s a good idea to treat yourself to some comfort food or a libation to remind yourself of the beauty found in simplicity. (Now, what wine goes well with the fall of Democracy?)

Stop procrastinating away happiness. If you’ve been postponing a dream trip, holding-off on writing your novel, or putting-off a new project—cut that shit out, now. It isn’t trivial to attend to such things when adversity hits, but essential. One of the greatest forms of resistance is to live fully, joyfully, and creatively. Yes, it may all be hitting the fan right now, but you can put on a poncho and press on. Don’t wait for permission to really live.

Ask anything and say everything. One of the blessings of destabilizing, consequential moments like the ones that we’re in, is that they help us clarify who the hell we are and precisely what is worth living for; the causes and people that matter to us. Over the last year, you’ve likely learned a great deal about yourself or you’ve been reminded of stuff you forgot. And if things are all going sideways anyway, it’s a great time to be exactly who you are without apology or editing.

Please understand, that I’m not minimizing what we’re going through collectively and what you’re enduring individually or what’s ahead for all of us. These are sobering, harrowing, dangerous times, and we will be pressed up against threats and worries many of us have never faced before. That’s all the more reason to live the shit out of single every day.

So yes, friends, please take good care of your physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, and relational health by adopting practices and patterns that can provide a buffer between you and the terrifying hellscapes on your timeline, outside your window, and in your head.

But beyond that, in what feels like (and may indeed be) the worst-case scenario, make it a priority to radically care for yourself by refusing to compromise or deny yourself simple pleasures or postpone your dreams or silence yourself.

The world may indeed be falling apart, but we don’t have to.

What are some self-care rules you’ve adopted recently that you’d add to my list? Please share in the comments.