5 Ways to Protect Your Mental Health Before and After the Inauguration
You wake up with a knot in your stomach. Before your eyes are fully open, the dread is already there. You reach for your phone—maybe checking will make it better, or maybe you're just bracing for impact. Another headline. Another policy announcement. Another reminder that the world feels like it's moving in the wrong direction.
Your partner asks if you're okay. "Fine," you say automatically. But you're not fine. You're exhausted, anxious, and grieving for a future that feels increasingly uncertain. You're watching rights be stripped away, protections dismantled, communities targeted. And you don't know how to keep caring this much without breaking.
This is political stress. And it's not just in your head—it's a legitimate response to real threats.
As a therapist, I see the way political stress weighs heavily on so many of us—especially those of us who are committed to justice, equity, and change. With our 24-hour news cycle, every headline can feel like a personal attack, and for those of us fighting for marginalized communities, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the emotional toll.
You don't have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, and your activism doesn't have to cost you your mental health.
Why Political Stress Feels So Heavy Right Now
It's not just politics—it's personal survival.
In a society where corporations are abandoning DEI initiatives, trans rights and reproductive rights are being systematically stripped away, our government is complicit in funding genocide, and the planet is signaling—loudly—that it's had enough, it's no wonder political anxiety feels overwhelming.
For many people, political events aren't abstract policy debates—they're existential threats. When politicians discuss healthcare, immigration, or civil rights, they're discussing whether you, your loved ones, or your community will be safe, protected, and able to survive.
The weight of it all can be crushing.
Your nervous system is responding to actual danger.
When you feel anxious watching the news or attending to political developments, your nervous system isn't overreacting—it's responding appropriately to real threats. Your body is smart. It recognizes when your safety, rights, or wellbeing are under attack.
The problem is that constant exposure to these threats keeps your nervous system in a state of hypervigilance. You're always on alert, always bracing, always prepared for the next blow. Over time, this creates:
Chronic anxiety and hypervigilance
Emotional exhaustion and numbness
Sleep disruption
Difficulty concentrating
Feelings of helplessness or hopelessness
Physical symptoms like tension, headaches, or digestive issues
Compassion fatigue from caring so deeply about so much suffering
Marginalized communities bear a disproportionate burden.
If you hold marginalized identities—if you're LGBTQIA+, a person of color, disabled, an immigrant, or part of any community under attack—political stress isn't theoretical. It's your daily reality.
You're not just observing injustice from a distance. You're navigating it in your own life while simultaneously bearing witness to attacks on your entire community. You're managing your own safety while worrying about everyone else who shares your identity.
This isn't just stressful—it's traumatizing.
The Cost of Caring: When Activism Becomes Unsustainable
You can't pour from an empty cup.
To fight effectively for the world you want, you must be rooted in your own well-being. Caring for your emotional health is not a retreat from action—it's what allows you to show up fully, whether in protest, on social media, or in everyday conversations with loved ones.
Sustainable activism requires sustainable energy. When you're burnt out, depleted, and running on fumes, you can't think clearly, make strategic decisions, or maintain the stamina needed for long-term change.
Burnout serves the systems you're fighting against. When you're too exhausted to resist, those systems win.
The myth of the martyr activist.
There's a harmful narrative in activist spaces that says real commitment means sacrificing everything, including your mental health. That if you're taking breaks, setting boundaries, or prioritizing self-care, you're not serious about the cause.
This is a lie. And it's a dangerous one.
Martyrdom isn't sustainable, and it's not strategic. The most effective activists are the ones who pace themselves, maintain their wellbeing, and stay in the fight for the long haul—not the ones who burn out spectacularly after six months.
5 Ways to Protect Your Mental Health
So how do we cope with political stress without losing ourselves? Here are five essential strategies:
1. Acknowledge the stress without shame.
It's okay to admit that this is hard. There's no shame in feeling overwhelmed or anxious about what's happening in the world. Your feelings are valid responses to real circumstances.
When you give yourself permission to feel—really feel—you allow yourself space to process your emotions instead of running from them or suppressing them. This is step one in healing, and activism needs healing as much as it needs action.
Try this practice:
Name what you're feeling: "I'm feeling anxious about the inauguration," or "I'm grieving the loss of protections I thought were secure."
Validate it: "It makes sense that I feel this way given what's happening."
Share it: Talk to someone who understands, write it down, or express it creatively.
Remember: Acknowledging your stress isn't giving up. It's the opposite—it's honoring the reality of what you're experiencing so you can respond effectively.
2. Set boundaries (even with yourself).
You don't need to read every news article, scroll endlessly through social media, or attend every protest. Information overload isn't the same as being informed, and constant exposure to trauma isn't the same as being engaged.
For many in marginalized communities, the privilege of stepping away from political battles doesn't fully exist—because the issues at stake directly threaten their lives and rights. But even within this reality, it's essential to recognize that rest and boundaries are not luxuries; they're survival tools.
Practical boundaries to consider:
News consumption:
Set specific times to check news (e.g., once in morning, once in evening)
Turn off push notifications from news apps
Designate one day per week as a "news fast"
Curate your social media to reduce triggering content
Emotional labor:
You don't have to educate every person who asks invasive questions
You can decline to engage in political debates with people who aren't arguing in good faith
It's okay to say "I don't have the capacity to discuss this right now"
Activism boundaries:
Choose 2-3 causes to focus on deeply rather than trying to engage with everything
Schedule activism time and non-activism time
Give yourself permission to miss events when you need rest
You can care deeply and still give yourself permission to pause. Sustainable activism means pacing yourself for the long road ahead, knowing that protecting your emotional health helps you keep showing up for the fight.
3. Stay connected to your values.
Political stress can make it feel like the weight of injustice is so big that it's hard to see the personal or the local. But connecting to what you value keeps you grounded and reminds you why you're fighting in the first place.
Ask yourself:
What do I value most? (Examples: family, community, justice, creativity, connection, freedom)
How can I live those values today, regardless of what's happening politically?
What small, local actions can I take that align with my values?
Let those values guide you in your activism, and let them remind you that change often starts with small, personal actions. You don't have to save the world single-handedly. You just have to show up in ways that matter to you.
Examples:
If you value community, focus on building strong local networks
If you value education, share resources and information thoughtfully
If you value care, check in on people in your life who might be struggling
If you value creativity, use art to process and resist
4. Find supportive communities.
Remember that this work doesn't have to, and shouldn't, be done in isolation. Find your people—the ones who get it, who share your values, and who won't just join the fight but will also help carry the emotional load.
Support networks matter because:
They provide validation that your feelings and experiences are real
They offer practical help and resource-sharing
They remind you that you're not alone in this
They create spaces where you can be honest about your struggles
They share the burden so no single person has to carry everything
Where to find supportive communities:
Local activist organizations or mutual aid groups
Online communities focused on specific issues or identities
Therapy groups for people navigating political stress
Friends who understand and share your values
Spaces specifically for marginalized communities to gather and support each other
In these communities, you can:
Share your stress and have it witnessed
Strategize for action together
Celebrate small wins
Process grief and rage collectively
Rest and recharge in safe company
Remember: Community care is just as important as self-care. We need each other to survive this.
5. Be compassionate with yourself.
You don't have to do it all. You don't have to be perfect in your activism or always stay strong. You can have days where you feel tired, disheartened, or angry—and that doesn't mean you've failed.
Compassion, for yourself and for others, is a crucial part of sustainable activism.
Self-compassion looks like:
Talking to yourself the way you'd talk to a friend: with kindness, not criticism
Acknowledging your limitations without shame
Celebrating what you did accomplish, not just what you didn't
Allowing yourself to feel the full range of emotions—including joy
Recognizing that taking care of yourself helps you take care of others
Challenge the inner voice that says you're not doing enough. That voice often comes from internalized capitalism, white supremacy, or ableism—systems that benefit from your self-flagellation.
The truth is: Your emotional well-being is just as important as the work you're doing to create change. Actually, your emotional well-being is part of the work.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Allow yourself to feel it all.
Allow yourself to feel it all: the grief, the rage, the hope, and the heartbreak. Caring deeply comes with a cost, but it's also a reflection of your humanity, your empathy, and your desire for a better world.
These are your greatest strengths, not weaknesses to overcome.
You're allowed to:
Cry when you need to
Rage when it's warranted
Laugh and find joy even in dark times
Take breaks from caring about everything
Feel multiple contradictory emotions at once
Change your mind about what you can handle
All of these are part of being human in a difficult time.
Staying soft is an act of resistance.
Staying soft, staying present, and staying whole is its own quiet rebellion.
When we practice self-care and set boundaries, when we protect our hearts and minds, we refuse to let oppressive systems steal our joy or harden our souls. This is how we keep fighting—fierce, whole, and unapologetically ourselves—building a future where none of us have to shrink to survive.
The systems that oppress us want us burnt out, hopeless, and too exhausted to fight back. When you rest, when you set boundaries, when you protect your peace—you're refusing to cooperate with your own destruction.
That's radical. That's resistance.
When to Seek Extra Support
Sometimes, political stress becomes too heavy to carry alone. Consider reaching out for professional support if you're experiencing:
Persistent anxiety or panic attacks
Depression or hopelessness that interferes with daily functioning
Trauma responses triggered by political events
Difficulty eating, sleeping, or functioning
Thoughts of harming yourself
Feeling completely isolated or alone in your experience
Therapy can provide:
A safe space to process political stress and trauma
Tools for managing anxiety and overwhelm
Help setting boundaries and developing sustainable activism practices
Support in navigating the intersection of personal and political stress
Validation that your experiences and feelings are real and matter
Working with a therapist who understands political stress—especially one with a social justice lens—can be transformative.
Final Thoughts: You Are Not Alone
If you're reading this and feeling exhausted, scared, or overwhelmed by what's happening in the world, please know: you're not alone. Your feelings make sense. And you deserve support.
You don't have to sacrifice your mental health to care about justice. You don't have to be constantly available to every crisis. You don't have to prove your commitment by destroying yourself in the process.
You can fight for a better world while also protecting your own peace. These aren't contradictory—they're complementary.
Take the rest you need. Set the boundaries that serve you. Find your people. Feel all your feelings. And keep showing up, in whatever ways you can, for as long as you're able.
We need you in this fight. And we need you whole.
Need Support Navigating Political Stress?
If you're struggling with political anxiety, activist burnout, or feeling overwhelmed by current events, therapy can help. I specialize in working with people navigating political and existential stress, helping them find sustainable ways to stay engaged without sacrificing their wellbeing.
