Bringing Your Best Self Into the Political Climate

How do you bring your best self into the political dialogue? I don’t know about you but this week has been pretty demanding for me. Things are crazy busy at work, I’ve had family visiting from out of town, and my children have 19 errands they need me to run so that they can get ready to go back to school. Then on top of that, there have been some announcements made in the political spectrum that I have found personally very disturbing and very concerning. I’ve been wrestling with the hardcore reality that there are so many demands for my bandwidth that it would be easy for me to remain silent on these issues that concern me greatly. The trouble with me remaining silent is then, how do other people differentiate between my silence and the silence and complicity of other people who are not at all disturbed by these developments? I don’t want the two to be confused. This has brought me to hold myself accountable and there are 3 simple strategies I’m using that I wanted to share with you.

Strategy #1

First and foremost, I have accepted the fact that even though there are 15 different issues that I care about, I cannot advocate for all of them. I’ve allowed myself to identify a few core issues that I care about the most and those are the ones I’m holding myself accountable for remaining engaged and active on.

Strategy #2

The second thing is, I’ve set a very clear intention about the energy and the vibe that I wish to embody during this political discourse. I’ve asked myself, “Do I want to come across in a state of aggression, anger, and conflict or do I really want to embody the energy of solidarity, affirmation, and conviction?” I have to confess, I’ve tried it both ways and emotionally standing for something feels so much better than standing against something if that makes any sense. I’ve set a very clear intention on how I want to show up in the world.

Strategy #3

The third thing is, I’m asking myself “What am I going to do to emanate that vibe out in my community?” Here, the options are pretty limitless. I can volunteer, I can donate, I can speak out on a personal level, on a public level, online, offline, I can protest, you name it. I have so many different options that I can choose from. However, I am looking for the areas where I feel like my own personal strengths can be the most effective. I’m holding myself accountable for emanating that positive vibe out into the world that I live in. Overall, my hope is that these 3 strategies will help me remain engaged in the political dialogue in a sustainable way. I don’t want to burn out and become silent, and I also don’t want to be responding from a reactive place. I’m hoping to come across intentionally and consciously. Fingers crossed, we’ll see if it works.

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