Southwest Conference Blog

Informed, Balanced, and Not Saturated: Self-Care During This Election Year

by Kay Klinkenborg, member, Church of the Palms

The American public has been ‘saturated’ by the news of the upcoming political party primaries and the 2024 presidential election for over a year. If you are like the majority of US citizens, we have been experiencing election induced stress since 2016 ^3,4,5. It is not a formal diagnosis ³, but these are intense times in our country, and I recommend we be intentional about taking care of ourselves emotionally and in doing that we can be balanced with ourselves spiritually and physically. (I don’t separate spiritual care from emotional care…some people do).

Saturation…an experiencing to the boiling point; something about to run amok; can’t hear anymore and don’t know what to do with the information I have already. Oxford Dictionary describes it “as much as can be absorbed”. I am recommending we learn to set some boundaries, be pro-active in this election year and not reach saturation; and when we recognize that is beginning, we activate choices to keep ourselves informed and balanced.

In our capitalistic world, self-care is often seen as selfish…not true. Jessica Young Brown Licensed Clinical Psychologist writes in Duke University’s Divinity School “News & Ideas” blog:

“Self-care is a multifaceted act of stewardship, which attends to multiple life demands. Self-care entails building a system of practices to support our living the rich and satisfying life that Jesus talks about in John 10 … ‘I have come that you may have life more abundantly’. It is an evolving process, in conversation with the Holy Spirit, that honors the whole person.”¹

I researched self-care during election years … nothing new has shown up since 2022. This tells me … we have been living in a ‘constant state of stress’ for several years. Most people reading this article understand self-care: diet, exercise, sleep, etc. I am offering some new ideas to consider and you decide what to incorporate.

STOP DOOMSCROLLING: PUT THE PHONE DOWN.

A relative new word in our culture, Cole Arthur Riley, author of Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems and Meditations for Staying Human has a chapter in this book “For Those Who Doomscroll”. She writes: “God … remind us that there is much the world needs, including our attention to atrocity—but if we watch the world burn for long enough, the fire becomes our only reality.”^2,3,4

Set boundaries on scanning for updates on your phone. It becomes addictive to need the newest update of the news. Remember before cell-phones, we got news one time a day in the evening, or through the daily newspaper. This abnormal attachment creates an unconscious anxiety, constant vigilance and apprehension if we aren’t up to the minute on the latest development. In fact: “The excessive consumption of news and social media predicts poorer long-term mental health during times of crisis.”³

CONTROL COMPUTER, TV, and PRINT CONSUMPTION

Limit how many news shows you watch a day. In reality, why would need an hourly check-in … ? We don’t. We have been unconsciously conditioned to think we are going to miss something if we don’t stay up to date. It is recommended you select two times a day to watch a portion of news. It is also recommended you not watch news at least one hour before going to bed. The last thing you put in your mind influences your quality of sleep and dreams. Screen-light of phones, I-Pads, computers is not good for getting to sleep and staying asleep. One hour disconnect prior to bed is recommended.

When reading ask: ‘Is this article helpful?’ and ‘Is this article real (or reflective of my own truth)?’ If you answer ‘no’ to either of those questions, give yourself permission to move on from it.⁵ Also ask, is this making me more anxious? If so, lay it down. You know the information you’ve gleaned thus far, trust yourself.

AVOID ‘WORSE CASE SCENARIO’ THINKING

Good news doesn’t bring customers to the TV, media or networks. Bad news, sensationalism, repetitive telling of news increases viewership. ‘Worst case scenarios’, or ‘what if…’ keeps us wired with adrenaline and living unconsciously with anxiety. A personal opinion, news shows do a lot of speculation, bringing in experts attempting to predict the next scenario. We can think for ourselves, draw conclusions and questions. Why sit listening to continuous speculations about events … that is not stewardship of our time.

Catastrophic thinking is a learned behavior for many of us. Previously in our life it served a purpose to help us be emotionally prepared for the ‘worst case scenario and not be caught off guard.’ We can change that thinking. We can learn to stop catastrophic thinking and thus significantly reduce the anxiety we are unconsciously living with. That type of stress is not good for our bodies. It creates a lot of ‘cortisol (adrenalin) dumping’ that is physically harmful.

KNOW YOUR ‘RANGE OF INFLUENCE’

Being informed voters is our responsibility. We can accomplish that while doing self-care.

Each of us determines with our physical and emotional energy what we can do to be involved politically. We need to honor each other’s choices of how to stay engaged. We might be actively working a phone line, writing emails/letters to state and federally elected officials, we might be lifting our concerns in prayer, or making financial contributions. It matters not what you do … it is that you make a choice.

We cannot control politics at large; BUT we have voice. That is our democratic system. Not having control of the outcome personally is hard for most of us. Learning to live with ambiguity is a spiritual practice. Living without knowing … we call that practicing faith. We come learning how to do that; thus we need to continue practicing.

“Most of the political climate is not controlled by us nor can we change other’s beliefs or feelings around it. Accepting the idea that we can only control ourselves and change things for us is a powerful reminder to not get caught up ruminating on the unchangeable and the uncontrollable. It is important to point the finger inward and ask, ‘What about this can I change and control?’ before you get caught up in the stress of it all.”⁵

MOVE

One of the more important things I learned as a counselor helping others under stress, what ever the cause … movement changes thinking. If you get up and go to another room, you have activated new neurocircuits … you see things differently because you literally aren’t in the same location. You interpret things differently because you have created a surge of fresh oxygen through your body. Do a different activity. Go for a walk. Raise your arms in the air ten times in a row. MOVE. It will shift something within you, and you can regroup. (Resources 2-6 suggested this as one of their priorities in self-care during election times).

CONNECT

Reach out to trusted friends. Find a discussion group or create one. Do not go this year of stress alone. The US and the world are at a heightened level of stress and concern like our generation hasn’t witnessed before. Community is vital to stay grounded, in touch with self, receive feedback, and receive compassion from others.

GRATITUDE

If you are not in the practice of keeping a gratitude journal, or at least verbally lifting up gratitude once a day … it a marvelous time to start. Things are tough right now. It is hard to know the reality of what is happening in the world, our country, our state, our county, etc. Plus, we are living our own personal experiences we are processing in the midst of this year. Gratitude owning keeps me more balanced quickly than almost any other tool I use for self-care. Own our blessings, lift up thanksgiving.

We are all more blind to what we have than to what we have not. –Audre Lorde

We can do this hard year. We will find our way. We can walk this path. We are not alone.

“I can do all things through {the} Christ who strengthens me.” –Philippians 4:13 (KJV)

My prayer for us this year:

Dear God, may we challenge ourselves this year to stay informed of the critical issues. Guide us in practicing stewardship with balanced and wise use of time, energy and self-care. Guide us to catch when we are reaching saturation with the noise of the naysayers, too much media. Remind us to intentionally move to positive choices; not trapped in catastrophic thinking or mistrust of our own truth. May we claim the inherent good within each of us and lean into our faith and humankind’s capacity for compassion and justice. Amen

¹ Young-Brown, Jessica (2023). “Self-Care is Not Self-Soothing”; May 2, https://leadership@divduke.edu.

²Riley, Cole Arthur (2024). Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems and Meditations for Staying Human.

³ “Mental Health and Wellness: Coping with Election-Related Stress”. Berkeley University Heath:

https://uhs.berkeley.edu/mental-health-and-wellness-coping-election-related-stress

⁴Stieg, Corey, (2020) CNBC Report:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/07/study-american-adults-report-election-stress-anxiety-tips.html

⁵Managing Your Mental Health in An Election Year”, (2020).

https://blog.umd.edu/terpstakecare/managing-your-mental-health-in-an- election-year/ Univ of Maryland.

⁶“Self-Care Tips for an Election Year”; (Updated: May 20, 2022). Colibri Collective:

https://www.thecolibricollective.com/post/self-care-tips-for-an-election-year

Spiritual Director; Member Spiritual Directors International; Author & Poet

Retired: RN; LMFT; Clinical Member AAMFT

Living A Different Story: A Message From Jerusalem

Kay Klinkenborg at Church of the Palms UCC sent us this article and knows Elie Pritz, the author of this piece, who lives and works in Jerusalem. She was raised there and is a Christian who, 10 years ago, founded a NGO to work on peace curriculum in teaching children K-12 non-violent options and peace building. Elie has lived her entire life in Jerusalem, has an American father and Swiss mother. Her pain about the issues in Palestine/Israel is palpable. She wrote this for her December newsletter.

It was about a month after the war started that I walked into Hand in Hand—a Hebrew-Arabic school in Jerusalem. We had originally planned to meet on October 9th, which clearly didn’t happen after the war broke out on October 7th. I was surprised when, a month later, they contacted me and asked if we could try again. Wasn’t their plate already ridiculously full, trying to keep a school like theirs running during a war? But we set a date and time, and two days later I was sitting inside the principal’s office, preparing to talk to her and one of the English teachers about our Peace Heroes program.

Bilingual schools (Hebrew and Arabic) are very rare in Israel. The vast majority of schools are sector based: secular Israeli Jewish schools, religious Jewish schools, Palestinian Israeli (Muslim and Christian) schools. Schools don’t integrate. The nine bilingual schools dispersed throughout the country are an anomaly—a place where Jewish and Palestinian Israelis can learn together in one another’s languages.

Peace Heroes' founder and program director, Elie Pritz. — Peace Heroes’ founder and program director, Elie Pritz.

I could only imagine how recent events would have greatly strained this mixed school community. So I asked the Jewish Israeli principal how this war has affected them.

“Look,” she said, “we’re in a war. And our students represent both sides of this war. It’s hard. But unlike some other organizations, we don’t have the privilege of going into ourselves right now, to reflect on the situation and decide how to move forward. Our students are coming to school every day. We have to figure this out every day.”

The English teacher, a Palestinian Israeli, said: “After October 7th I didn’t want to come in to work. But I chose to come anyway. Every day I wake up and I make that choice all over again—the choice to be here…It’s not easy, but it’s my choice. It’s the choice every single one of us in this school is making.”

We spent the next hour talking about Peace Heroes, brainstorming ways they could make it part of their school program. It was the first time in a month I felt inspired and even hopeful. Here is a school that is doing the hard (hard!) work of figuring out how to live life together. Here is a school that understands, at an existential level, how crucial it is to raise the next generation of leaders in this land to be pursuers of peace and mutual thriving. They loved the idea of using stories of Peace Heroes from all over the world—as well as from the region—to not only model to their students how to navigate really hard things while still upholding the dignity of all people, but also to open up difficult conversations around identity, justice, and security within the safe space of storytelling.

At the end of the meeting the principal told me that our hour together felt like oxygen to the soul. I understood what she meant. For the first time in weeks, I felt like I could breathe again, even if only for a moment. To be in the room together with people who, like me, were making a supreme effort to swim against the tide that in this moment is dividing not only the people of this land but also of the world, brought me to tears. Tears of relief in feeling that there are others who are doing what is possibly one of the hardest and most isolating things to do in a war: fighting to stay united, to be in relationship, to be mutually empathetic to and supportive of one another’s identity as well as experience of the nightmare we are all living through.

October 7th and its aftermath is changing our landscape in a way that will take us years to fully understand. In the days following the beginning of the war, people everywhere asked me to tell them how I was doing, to explain to them what was happening. It felt impossible. I was stunned into silence, completely unable to articulate the chaos, trauma, fear, and grief we were all suddenly plunged into. And yet, even while I sat in this stunned silence, I was completely taken aback by the onslaught of divisive and damaging words being spewed out by people around the world, aimed at one or other of the communities in this land. This tsunami of hate-filled words quickly spiraled me down into a despairing depression. I felt as voiceless as I’ve ever felt, and so alone in my desire to push forward another narrative, to tell a different story.

But slowly, I began to hear other voices speaking the words I could not speak—local peacemakers, both Israeli and Palestinian, whose stories I had written, whose organizations I had been following since the days I had started my journey with Peace Heroes more than a decade ago.* These people were articulating what I could not: the unbelievable pain of the moment we suddenly found ourselves in, AND the absolute necessity of upholding the dignity of all the people in this place. Their voices anchored me the way nothing else could. They gave me solid ground to stand on and brought me back to myself and to what I knew to be true: that violence is our common enemy, and that taking a stand against violence and its dehumanizing effects is the only way we will ever come out of this moment with our humanity still intact.

Words matter. They matter so much. Words can break our world or they can remake it. It took me a few weeks to connect the dots (blame the war—it messes with one’s ability to think logically), but it finally dawned on me that I do have life giving words. I’ve been writing them for a decade, telling the stories of people from all over the world—as well as from Israel and Palestine—who have faced devastating situations and have chosen to be a light in the darkness, a force for healing rather than division, hate, and fear. Voices that will never stop trying to remake our world.

Hand in Hand school is one of these voices. They understand the toxicity of the space we are living in, and the urgency of raising our voice to tell (and live) a different story. Peacemakers are often the first to be sidelined in a war, but I believe it is precisely these people who are doing the hardest work of all: the work of daily choosing to live out a different reality. A reality that says to people across the divide: “You matter, and I will live my life in a way that manifests this conviction and upholds your dignity as well as mine, no matter what.” This is the only reality that promises any kind of viable and shared future in this land.

As this year comes to a close it is my deepest hope that we will all follow in the footsteps of these peacemakers. May we live a different story–one that daily chooses to remake our broken world.