Advocacy, awareness, and staying healthy in our traumatic, social media driven world

Written By Rachel Ann

As a life coach, there are a few times during the year that are heaviest for my clients: grieving, birthdays, holidays, life transitions, mass traumatic events, just to name a few. So you can imagine this week has been quite heavy as we witness and fight against the horror we’re seeing in the Israel/Palestinian massacre. Sitting with tension, wondering what we can do, fighting the urge to go numb, wondering how to complete our day-to-day tasks, feeling guilty and helpless, and many other thoughts swarm around our minds.

The key to navigating these times is to practice advocacy and awareness while also protecting your mental and emotional health. It seems impossible, but I encourage you to give it a try. Here are some tips on how to do just that:

  1. Limit news/social media - reposting and sharing info is a great way to bring awareness, but if done too much, it can lead to anxious thoughts and feeling numb. Make sure your news consumption is for you to stay informed, not to prove yourself to others that you “care” enough, (aka ‘virtue signaling’) or as a way to relieve the “what's happening now” questions, which really creates more anxiety.

  2. Find reminders of hope - this is not being positive in a toxic way, rather it's reminding you to see the whole picture. While violence is occurring, so is international aid from non-profits. Finding ways to connect with communities and organizations that are creating solutions will help you feel hope and be part of the solution. You can also engage in spiritual practices to help you feel grounded like: meditation, prayer, reading spiritual books, singing spiritual songs, being in nature, etc.

  3. Honor your energy level - our minds and bodies were not created to witness trauma repeatedly, but we're forced to do so because of the world we live in. So know that your body's innate desire to slow down, cry, or something else to relieve stress is natural and healthy. Honor it during this time and release all the heaviness swimming inside you. Consider lowering the volume or sticking to text-only content, as opposed to videos and other images.

  4. Do “small” things - while you may not be able to run for political office or fly to Gaza, you can: sign petitions, check in with your friends who are impacted by this, share links with people, donate to humanitarian organizations, etc. Those “small” things have a huge impact and usually don't take up hours of your day.

  5. Practice boundaries - there may be some people that you don't want to have conversations with, so limit interactions with them. Or, perhaps you need to limit your news intake to only 5 minutes a day, so set a time limit on your apps. Placing boundaries to protect your time, mental health, and overall wellbeing will help you stay healthy during this time.

  6. Use the sandwich method - it's unfortunate, but data shows that for one negative comment or interaction we have, we need five positive ones to help us recover. So for every difficult post, image, or action you take, make sure to follow up with many positive ones after.

  7. Find community and support - for those of us who don't live in the epicenter of this war, one of the biggest ways we can fight is by providing space for those who are impacted. Saying things like: “I'm sorry this is happening", “I'm here if you need to talk, cry, or vent”, or “Let me know how I can support you” are helpful ways to show care for someone who is deeply hurting.

My hope is that you find ways to stay healthy while you stay informed and advocate, sis. Not only do you deserve to be healthy for the simple reason that you’re worth it, it’s also vital to make sure your fight stays strong and empowered, too. 💜

Need more support? Lemme help you sis:

Rachel Ann
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