I once heard a woman from the United Kingdom say that she has no idea on earth why we Americans torture ourselves so much during our presidential election cycles. The pattern begins early and floods the media and culture with noise and more politics than most care to hear about on a daily basis.
I recently took a wide-sweeping survey among those I interact with every day to ask how people are feeling right now about the current election situation here in the United States. The general and overall summary was that many feel disconnected, disinterested, removed, and basically apathetic about it. Some told me that they don't have time for it right now, while others expressed that they have too much going on in their lives to bother with anything related to this election year. But at the exact same time, those who gave these answers expressed them with an eye-rolling frustration that told me they actually do have an opinion, and they do care, but are just frustrated and burned out on the politically saturated environment in the United States.
In January this year the Pew Research Center put out an article entitled Tuning Out: Americans on the Edge of Politics, in which they gathered varied comments from responders on how they are feeling regarding politics and elections here in our country. The comments range from "can't escape it", to feeling they have no idea what to even believe anymore. There is a good link as well (at the end of the overview) leading to an additional article called, Americans' Dismal Views of the Nation's Politics,where they support their findings and open our eyes to the reality of what has become of our views about this topic in America. This time last year 65% of Americans said they feel "exhausted" when thinking of politics.
So if you are finding that tuning into the evening news only results in turning it off shortly after, you are not alone. But the disinterest in the political scene does not come free of stress and anxiety because many people have expressed to me that they do care very much about outcomes in the arena of politics. Yet they just feel too fatigued of the saturation of it all at this point when the topic of it just keeps being thrown at them over and over again. Tuning out is a way to rest the brain and the emotions when something feels overwhelming and allows oneself to "come up for air", so-to-speak. The election here is just over three months away and you can be assured, the focus on this topic won't stop there.
Like any kind of burnout, one step you can take is reducing your exposure to the flood, and in this case the flood is of political information that comes during an election year. Not easy since it's literally everywhere you turn. But tuning out of the news once you get the basic top stories of the day does helps.
Practicing relaxation techniques is key. You can find my blog entry from just before the 2020 election here in which I talk about the importance of maintaining stress reducing techniques in order to cope both before and after elections. Get away from the screens when you can, and limit time exposure when you can't. Avoid friends and acquaintances who are "political arguers" and who seem to pull you into battles that solve nothing, and instead only raise your blood pressure and heart rate. Relaxation techniques are key at times like this and avoiding other poor coping behaviors such as alcohol and drug use (or other destructive behaviors) that only make things worse, is the way to more satisfactory outcomes.
You might not have the power to control the run-away train called the "political election system" in the United States, but you do have the power to turn down the dial on any conduit that flows it into your immediate vicinity, and which brings this noise to you in an abundance you don't care for.
"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare". ~Audre Lorde
Thanks to charles spoorn for the great photo
