Oh yeah? What you gonna do about it? Uh?
I am seeing a lot of people on my Instagram and Facebook repost about Trump, Palestine, and the ongoing ICE raids (AKA the Modern Day Gestapo, WTF). I used to be the first one to do this too. My twin would tease me that it made absolutely no difference at all. And I kinda get his point now. Sure, education and awareness are very important and the first step. But to some extent, it becomes “misery voyeurism” and apparently the more exposed we are to everything that is going wrong, economically, ecologically and sociologically, the less inclined we are going to do something about it.
Awareness slides into paralysis. Nervous-system overwhelm reduces agency. When people are flooded, they either freeze, dissociate, or perform concern instead of acting. It isn’t about caring less. It’s about caring more effectively.
The real repair starts with us. Regulating our emotions and nervous system. Then helping someone else do the same, and also taking tangible actions in our direct circles and community.
Regulating the nervous system isn’t fluffy self-care, it’s political activism. All the oppressive systems in place are already rooted in fear and shame. You don’t fight fire with fire. Burned-out people don’t build movements; regulated people do.
Here are a few examples of tangible actions you can do in your local community:
Get to know the reality of a new arrivant in Canada;
Volunteer at a homeless shelter;
Volunteer at the palliative care home in your city (Maison Source Bleue, as a cook, caretaker, or admin aid);
Volunteer at a food bank (Moisson Rive-Sud is always looking for drivers for meal deliveries or admin work);
Buy local (so many), buy used, instead of Amazon;
Do Yoga, teach Yoga, and reasonate on the frequency of love ;).
We don’t change the world by consuming more pain. We change it by becoming more useful to the people right in front of us.