How to ​Beat Political Overwhelm: Why You Need to Just Do One Thing by Kathy Hertz and Donna Lipman

It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed by all the conflict and strife in today’s political landscape. Too often, people let being overwhelmed turn into a feeling of powerlessness where they begin to believe nothing they do will matter – that nothing they do will change anything. The cure to political overwhelm and stagnation is very simple: do one thing.

In chaos, fear or distraction, it is difficult to achieve goals or process information in a clearheaded and objective way. The time we lose to overwhelm could be used to make a positive difference. Is your wheel-spinning and ruminating serving you, or is it keeping you stuck? Here are two key insights about overwhelm:

• Overwhelm is always a signal that we are not taking effective care of ourselves.

• Overwhelm is part of the human condition and something we can use to our benefit as a motivator.

To break out of feeling overwhelmed and start making a difference, try the following:

• Pause.

• Expose the source of the overwhelm and acknowledge it.

• Stop using overwhelm (or any emotion) as an excuse to tune out and shut down.

• Prioritize listening to yourself and living a life of integrity.

And then:

• Do one thing.

Panic-stricken hysteria only serves to keep us focused on what’s wrong, allowing neither progress nor positive change. The key is turning panic into action. Instead of suffering with our “hair on fire,” we can mindfully determine which issues most concern us and take empowered action on them. Choose one issue, and do one thing. Then do something else – one more thing.

Before you know it, you’ll be making a difference – one that you couldn’t have made when you kept yourself stuck in a state of emotional upheaval. Overwhelm can be a great motivator, but it’s unsustainable and will slow us down and lessen our collective impact. Perhaps it behooves all of us to ignore the tweets and place our energy on getting involved at local, national or international levels, wherever we can best make a difference.

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