Our Social and Political Climate (Hate and Anger)
How is your response to the political and social climate of our current world affecting you? What are you doing to yourself and others in the name of “standing up for what you believe?”
This post is going to be a bit different than most of mine and it will be much shorter than most I’ve written. Over the past several weeks I have been incredibly aware of the energy of others regarding our social and political climate. I don’t have to tell y’all that it is really toxic right now.
Regardless of where you stand on issues, if you are focusing on what is wrong with the world and your anger about it, then you do not have much peace. This is going to be a bit of a rant. So, bear with me here.
Negative Effects of Our Social and Political Climate
On a daily basis, I am hearing and seeing how the ways of our current world are greatly impacting us and not in a positive way. If you’re on social media, you simply cannot escape the anger and judgment people are spewing.
There is a lot of name-calling and hatred. I get it. It’s easy to fall into that and I’ve done it myself. Now, before you start thinking that I’m going to tell you that you should just get off of social media, just know that is not what this is about.
Instead, what I want you to do is start paying attention to what’s happening to you. How are your mind, body, and soul affected every time you see or hear something that you don’t agree with and your “go to” response is anger and/or hate?
For me, I get this intense feeling that starts in the pit of my stomach, circles to my back, up my spine and lands in my shoulders. The knots in my shoulders beg me to do something different. I am willing to bet that whatever part of your body that anger or hate lands in is also begging you to do something different.
When we take on that kind of anger, hate, or fear it affects every single aspect of our lives. We feel it in our bodies and the people around us feel it too. Nobody wins here!
Navigating the Effects of Our World Today
I’m not saying that you should completely avoid social media or the news. That’s too big of an ask for most people because that’s how many people stay connected with the world. For me, social media is how I stay connected to all of you!
What I am saying is for you to pay attention to what the negative energy from it all is doing to you. Is it consuming you? Is the social and political climate resulting in obsessive thoughts? Do you really gain anything from that negative energy or those obsessive thoughts?
If you answer “yes” to that, then I don’t know what to tell you because you’re lying to yourself. If you answered “no,” then keep reading because I think I can help you.
Before I talk about what you can do about your negative energy, I want to talk about what not to do, specifically on social media. Yes, you have friends on your social media who you believe are ignorant or just plain assholes. Both may be true, but l want to focus on what you CAN do.
Social Media Rants
You may need to re-read this part several times and remind yourself of it before your fingers start typing a response to those people. There is NOTHING you can do to change their minds. Just like you are strong in your beliefs and feel warranted in them, so do they.
They probably think the same thing about you being ignorant or an asshole. There is no fact or opinion that you can state that will change his or her mind, just like there is no fact or opinion that is going to change your mind!
Wasted energy and negative energy are the ONLY “rewards” that you are going to get from commenting or bashing others for their views. You are NOT hurting anybody but yourself.
It is so easy to slip into defending your beliefs when others attack them, but that, too, is a waste of time. Again, you are NOT changing their minds no matter what you say or the amount of time you spend saying it.
What you are getting instead is a loss of peace. That’s an expensive loss to me and hopefully to you as well because peace can often be hard to come by! So, I’m going to say this again. Stop wasting your time defending your beliefs! You will not change somebody’s mind!
Positive Energy for the Social and Political Climate
Let’s look at what you can do instead. My suggestion comes from one of my favorite psychotherapy patients. Of course, I have to abide by HIPAA here, but I will tell you what she’s doing when she disagrees with somebody’s views. I’m not going to tell you exactly what she’s doing or about our discussion about it, though.
Instead, I am going to use what she’s doing to give you an idea of how to release some of that negative energy. Find an organization that supports your views and learn how to make a donation to them.
Allow yourself to commit to donating to that organization every time you get the urge to defend your views or spew anger or hate on others for their differing views. That is countering your negative energy with positive energy.
Yes, for many of you, that could get very expensive in a hurry. If that’s you, then I’m glad you’re reading this. I suggest you keep a weekly log of the times you need to make a donation. You might want to start with twenty-five cents for each time that urge to spew hits you.
At the end of the week, you’ll probably have several dollars you’ll need to donate to the organization you chose. For those of you who don’t have that urge as often, choose a donation amount that feels right to you.
You know the world already has enough anger and negative energy. So, stop adding to that! I’ll give you one final reminder. You will NOT change the mind of anybody who is determined to have a different view, just like they aren’t changing yours. Do something positive with your energy instead!
I’d love to know if any of you try this, how it goes, or how much money you end up donating! Also, if you have any other ideas for changing negative energy to positive, comment below to share your ideas with the Not Good Enough Stuff Community. That’s a positive way to spend your energy!
DISCLAIMER:
This site is only intended for people who are truly willing to look at themselves with an open mind and have the ability to truly be vulnerable with themselves and others. Please understand that this site is in NO WAY THERAPEUTIC ADVICE. However, this site can be very beneficial in learning the causes of your Not Good Enough Stuff. This site is not intended to provide or replace medical or psychiatric treatment. Mary Beth HIGHLY RECOMMENDS finding a licensed therapist to help you process the information from this site and all that you learn about yourself. Visit Psychology Today to find a licensed therapist in your area.
