Written for everyone from political observers to advocates and activists, a new book from life strategists Kathy Hertz and Donna Lipman is inspiring people to renew their self-care and find fresh purpose in their political engagement. “Beyond Resistance: Coping with the Stress of the Trump Era – An Essential Guide,” published in May, offers coping tips.
Regarding their inspiration for writing the book, Hertz and Lipman shared: “We and most of our friends, family members, clients, and colleagues were living with an underlying anxiety, and we noticed that it was beginning to affect us negatively. We had shorter fuses and less joy. We had trouble sleeping. Many of us had a constant knot in our stomachs. We needed to figure out how to lift ourselves up out of victimhood and powerlessness into empowered action and strength.”
Anyone whose go-to tools just aren’t working right now to relieve stress and cope with difficult life circumstances may benefit from this book. and its tips. You will learn to:
• Cope with stress and overwhelm.
• Understand why you have such intense feelings and reactions.
• Navigate some of the major roadblocks that hold you back in your resistance and life.
• Identify what is most important to you and create a plan of action to achieve your goals while taking care of yourself in the process.
• Understand why Trump supporters are as ardent and committed as they are.
• Clearly listen for, hear, and trust your inner voice so you no longer need constant validation from others.
• Practice effective self-care, knowing it is neither self-indulgent nor selfish.
“We are determined to use the chaos of the current political climate as a catalyst for growth rather than be swallowed up by it, and we want to help others do the same.” the pair said in a joint statement.
To effect positive change, we don’t need to do it all, but we need to do something. However, when people feel overwhelmed — like they can never do enough — it often leads to doing nothing. Hertz and Lipman suggest a simple solution that anyone can take part in to beat the overwhelm: Do one thing.
“In chaos, fear, or distraction,” write Hertz and Lipman, “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?”
The strategists offer 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 and beat the feeling of being overwhelmed and start making a difference, they offer these tips:
1. Pause.
2. Expose the source of the overwhelm and acknowledge it.
3. Stop using overwhelm (or any emotion) as an excuse to tune out and shut down.
4. Prioritize listening to yourself and living a life of integrity.
Then:
5. Do one thing.
“Panic-stricken hysteria only serves to keep us focused on what’s wrong, allowing neither progress nor positive change,” Hertz and Lipman said in a joint statement. 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.”
