Kindness in the Face of Politics

The past couple of weeks have been tough.

Australia has passed 78% fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and expects to reach 80% within the next week. International flights are picking up, with hotel quarentine abolished, people are going back to work, and restrictions on socialising are lessening by the day. Oh, and the unvaccinated are one step closer to being allowed out in public again.

Nominally, all of those are good things. International flights means I'll get to hug my Dad and Stepmum, located in California, for the first time in two years. I can see my friends in person, and spend time outside my house, and go to the movies or the theatre.

On the downside, coming out of lockdown also means a lot of anxiety.

We aren't used to having so many people around us anymore, and not all of them are good at respecting personal space, never mind proper social distancing. Some people decided to go from zero to a thousand and completely ignore the restrictions that are still in place, leading to potential super-spreader events and the risk of being sent back into Lockdown. The mental strain of Lockdown is hard, but the stress of coming out of Lockdown shouldn't be discounted, either.

International flights means that the Prime Minister has to actually do his job, which includes showing up for the big Climate Change conference in the UK, and apologising talking to the French about completely forgetting to warn them about backing out of a multi-billion-dollar submarine deal.

Meme-makers and journalists are stretching their fingers, already envisioning the disasters they are about to immortalise in media. Everyone else is cringing in anticipation of having to admit that a majority of our larrikin country actually voted for this idiot. Some are thinking semi-fondly of the days when we could point at the USA and claim, "Well, at least we aren't as bad as the Grand High Tangerine..."

Over in America, it's election season, which brings an added layer of stress, and Australia has a senate election coming up at the end of November, as well as a Federal one next year.

It's easy to become upset, frustrated and burnt out at the constant barrage of political ads, partisan news reporting, and families dividing along party lines.

That burnout wars with the social concienciousness of wanting to be as engaged as possible in order to make an informed choice at the polls. There's also the conflict of wanting to make your vote count, particularly in countries where your preference vote actually does have a tangible impact, vs the overwhelming urge to throw up your hands and let the world burn. Even with a functional moral compass, it can be hard to choose.

What is even harder, is recognising the signs that you're reaching your limits, and taking a moment to be kind to yourself.

Stop, and take a couple of deep breaths, and cut yourself some slack.

Take the day off Facebook and social media. Go for a walk or take some time to work on a relaxing hobby. Politics will (unfortunately) still be there when you have the mental energy to come back to it.

You can't pour from an empty jug. You can't drive on nothing but fumes. You can't make an informed decision when you're under too much stress to function.

The world sucks right now, and it feels like every attempt to make things better only makes it worse. Be kind to yourself, and to others.

We'll get through this.

This was written for the VSS Newsletter, which can be found here

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