When the world feels heavy
Sometimes, the weight of the world feels closer and heavier than usual. There’s a thick something in the air that lingers in the silence when we walk past our neighbours or sit at the dining table with family. It’s an unsettling blanket of tension when chaos in the outer world disrupts the sanctuary of our inner world. When the political and social climate gets confronting, there’s a sense of helplessness and defeat that we might experience. The quiet guilt of worrying about our personal issues when we perceive grander scales of injustice can leave us stuck between compassion fatigue and prioritising our own self-care.
In moments like these, resilience doesn’t only feel tough, it can feel selfish. To have the ability to step away from the news or exit the bubble of information that is the only reality for people living in such conditions can feel like an undeserved luxury. However, the gentle protection of your capacity to care isn’t “staying positive” or disregarding the reality we see, it’s about navigating our empathy through a healthy approach without self-destructive habits.
How do we do that? We start small.
Micro-coping strategies offer steady support as we move through the day without shutting down or burning out. They don’t solve, or attempt to solve, the big things, but tending to the smaller parts of you that need comfort or grounding have lasting effects. Here are a few gentle practices to try:
Ground yourself with sensory techniques. A reminder to yourself that you are here and you are safe. For a detailed breakdown of our top 4 grounding techniques, click here.
Take an active rest. If you’ve been doomscrolling confronting content, make a conscious effort to end the moment. Let your mind and attention shift environments.
Name what you’re feeling. In moments where everything feels out of control, the simple act of identifying growing anxiety can give us a sense of clarity. It allows us to self-validate what we feel and prevent a snowball effect of emotions.
Engage in one small habit that feels like care. Spend time with a loved one. Cook a nourishing meal. Add an uplifting tweak to your day to remind yourself that taking care of yourself is what allows you to pass along the care to others.
Once we engage in these meaningful micro-coping strategies, we open the door to greater boundaries that protect us from compassion fatigue. Practical approaches to long-term sustainability are:
Reconnecting with your “why”
Emotional burnout often arises when we feel disconnected from what we are doing. Especially for activists, it’s crucial to assess our actions with our values and let them guide your next small action - even if the action is rest.
Limit emotional overexposure
Chronic exposure to confronting content feeds into our helplessness. When staying informed trickles into compassion fatigue, many might abandon the former thinking that constant significant distress is inherent.
Define your limits before you hit them
Check-in with yourself and your capacity. Every day is not the same, and the amount of information we are able to handle healthily today may not be the case tomorrow. While it may feel selfish initially, it’s important to remember that boundaries promise a long-term commitment to staying informed and active.
When times feel uncertain, we can anchor ourselves in steady rhythms and routines that bring us back to the present moment. Finding connection with your values, your people, yourself is incredibly important. To be resilient is not to remain unfazed by injustice or suffering in the world. Sensitivity is not a weakness, it’s a strength. But it is only when we foster the mind and body that carries it that we keep our small corner of the world healthy.
If your heart feels heavy right now, let this be your reminder: the more grounded we are, the more powerfully we can show up for ourselves, for others, and for whatever the world demands of us next.
With warmth and encouragement,
Ruchi