Are We Making It Through The Day?
I don’t know about you but since the pandemic, I cannot seem to manage the influx of stressful information. Everywhere I look, everyone I talk to, everything I touch seems to somehow be connected to stressful changes happening in the world or even in my own community. And like with most things, it is difficult to find relief that is real and lasting.
Currently in my private practice, one of the things I am talking most commonly with my clients about is this exact thing: how to manage hearing about so many stressful events happening so rapidly. I’m hearing stories of increased worry, stress, fear, and confusion. For some folks, these fears and anxieties are real but removed from their everyday lives, while for others the concerns are real and concrete. Some have been unexpectedly laid off from jobs, others live in fear of what could happen next and have no control, and many are being dangerously targeted because of aspects of their identity.
When we witness things in the larger world or in our personal lives that trigger these responses within us, a common reaction is to seek information about what is happening in order to be better prepared. Often this comes in the form of binge consuming news in one form or another. Some leave cable news on all day long in the background. Others “doomscroll” on their smart device for extended periods of time. We want to stay in the know, right? How can we do it safely? Well, what we can know for sure is research has shown overconsumption of news actually rewires our brains – and not in a good way (check this out).
I become extra concerned about safety when I am so frequently told, “I get my news from social media”. Why does this concern me? As we know, social media companies are advertising companies that want more clicks. They do not care if what they share is true, safe, or impartial. As we scroll, we have no idea what is coming next in our algorithm. Research shows that we are most impacted by the bad things that happen to us, or the bad things we witness when they are unexpected and when we see them. – so unexpected images on our social media timelines or in our new alerts produce legitimate trauma inducing reactions. And the news outlets and social media companies count on this.
There is an addictive component to the chemicals our bodies produce in this cycle, one of which is dopamine (you can read all about dopamine here). Dopamine plays a big role in helping us feel better and more at ease when we need it or when we are doing something vital to survival, like eating or sleeping. We can also get a little hit of dopamine by doing things like being on social media. And like all things, you can have too much of a good thing. When dopamine is out of balance we can feel either too high/energized or too low/unmotivated. When other chemicals enter the mix, like cortisol - which triggers anxiety in response to stress and regulates many functions in the body, and adrenaline – which gets us moving when things are exciting/stressful but on a prolonged basis (like when we doomscroll) can cause anger, the picture becomes hard for our bodies to manage without an outlet.
I want you to think about an athlete at any level of competition who is on the playing field. Even before the game begins, their reward system is kicking in and generating dopamine. Adrenaline and cortisol are coming on board as the game gets going and they are waiting their turn to be in the action. Who isn’t nervous, anxious, and excited at this point? This chemical buildup in the body can feel amazing and very powerful. In this example, our athlete has the opportunity to offload this energy and these chemicals in a healthy manner through the course of exercise. Once the game is over, the excess dopamine, cortisol, and adrenaline are released and our systems are regulated.
Now think about when we sit on our devices, scrolling and feeding our minds news and images building up all of this dopamine, cortisol, and adrenaline but we have nowhere to offload it, nowhere to put this energy, nothing to do about what we are hearing and seeing. Do you think that is good for our minds and our bodies? Ask yourself, after you engage with the cable news for an extended period how do you feel? After you doomscroll, how does your body feel? After you are on social media longer than about 10 or 15 minutes, how do you feel? Take note. If it is worried, fearful, distressed, or hopeless it might be time to take a look at that.
We cannot influence what is happening in the world around us but we can influence how we let it impact us. Here are a few simple strategies I continue to work on every day for myself that I think you can also take away from your read here today.
Timeboxing: every day setting a fixed timeframe for consuming news and/or social media that you stick to, whether or not you are finished. By doing this you make sure to allow for other things in your life that are either neutral or are positive.
Turning off all news/social media alerts: Alerts disrupt the control we have over our time boxing and drag us back into thinking about what is happening during the time we have established away from the news/social media. Additionally, the disruptive noise of alerts contribute to the traumatic response discussed earlier.
Go in search of the good: The antidote to the bad news is actively finding what people are doing that is good. We can feel like there is nothing good happening; no good news, nothing to look forward to, the future is uncertain. Much like clouds covering over the sun. Every day we can be intentional about going in search of the good, looking for the good that exists. You can use some of your social media time to seek out the do-gooders out there. @goodnews_movement or @thatgoodnewsgirl are great ones to get you started.
The powering of lending a hand: Remember the athlete who could do something with all of those feelings and emotions that were coming from the chemicals in their body? You have that option, too. When you find yourself churned up by what you are seeing, hearing, and witnessing in the world, get out there and do something. It can be very small. Donating even $1 to a cause important to you is significant and more than you did before. If you can do more that is wonderful. If you are able bodied, get out and volunteer at a local organization (here’s my fav: https://www.volunteeralexandria.org/). Doing something as simple as picking up trash in your neighborhood (and invite your neighbors!), offer an elderly neighbor a ride, or any other simple action like this costs nothing. None of us can solve anything alone. But figuring out a way to be a tiny part of helping someone else is the key to helping ourselves 100% of the time, and it discharges that energy!
Need to talk more about it? I would love to!
Leslie Jerkins, LCSW
Old Town Therapy Services
oldtowntherapy.com
leslie@oldtowntherapy.com
571-601-2815