How To Avoid Political Burnout
Use these 10 tips to help identify and fend off that feeling of being politically fatigued!
Given political burnout is a natural outcome of prolonged political engagement, self-care has to become an integral part of your activism, not just a break from it.
Burnout comes in many forms and affects each of us differently. But as with all recovery plans, the first step is knowing that the problem exists. Being able to identify the early warning signs of political burnout out, along with knowing ways to prevent it, is key for anyone trying to keep up in today’s political struggles.
If feel you are feeling becoming fatigued from political engagement, use the tips below to identify and address a potential burnout.
Political Burnout: What is it?
A quick definition will be helpful in framing exactly what it is we are talking about. Personally, I find this one encompasses the issue nicely:
“Burnout is defined, and subjectively experienced, as a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion caused by long term involvement in situations that are emotionally demanding.”
Burnout does not have to be political. It can come from a number of situations all compounding on one another, leading you to be physically exhausted and emotionally drained. However, those who are politically engaged can be particularly prone to this effect, due to the intense emotional and mentally demanding nature of politics.
Given political burnout is a natural outcome of prolonged political engagement, you have to see self-care as an integral part of your activism, not just a break from it. In the same way that taking a car to the garage for repairs is part of being a car owner, so too is self-care and avoiding burnout a key part of being politically active.
What causes political burnout?
Many, many things can lead to burnout. And as mentioned before, these factors do not exist independently from one another. Stresses from home, your work, and your politics, can morph together and take their toll on the body.
In the political realm, these habits can lead us to burnout:
- High expectations of yourself
- Prolonged work without clear gain or end goals
- Emotional fatigue from heavy subject matter
- Constantly talking to people
- Being isolated from others due to the nature of your beliefs or work
Any of these sound like you…? If so, let’s see if any of the warning signs are also present…
Signs you may be approaching burnout:
- Feeling that activism is taking over your life
- Difficulty in making decisions.
- Inability to stay focused.
- Insomnia, difficulty in sleeping, or getting enough sleep.
- A growing tendency to think negatively.
- Pervasive feelings of hopelessness.
- A loss of sense of purpose and energy.
- Physical signs, such as muscle tension, headache, backache, and exhaustion.
- A loss of pleasure in food, friends, or other activities that were once exciting and interesting — a general sense of running on empty.
- Temper tantrums over trivial matters, not wanting to get out of bed in the morning, or becoming accident-prone.
- Sudden feelings of apathy towards others.
Sound familiar? If so, let’s talk about what you can do.
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
(10) Tips for avoiding political burnout
1) The Basics
Eat well, sleep well, work well. It’s simple; it works. Make sure you are eating a balanced diet, sleeping an appropriate amount, and taking part in at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise a day. Look after your physiological needs first, that way you can reduce the physical impact of burnout far more effectively.
2) Realise that the weight of the world is not on your shoulders
Whether you relentlessly feel bad for inaction, or feel there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all the work necessary, remember, the problem is not yours alone to fix.
Be engaged, do your part, but do not feel you are individually responsible for fixing every problem your encounter. This accountability is not only unrealistic but also very damaging to your mental health, as any setback to the cause comes crashing down on you as well: a crash that needn’t land on you.
Step back, and look to others who are also helping. Take solace in their support, remind yourself you are not alone.
3) Have breaks
Burnout can feel like the world is going dark; nothing is working, and nothing ever will. But this is not the case. Giving yourself even a small amount of space can provide an enormous amount of perspective.
Noticing when things are getting too much and taking some time off is a great way of preventing fatigue from setting in. Even better than this, however, is scheduled breaks. Instead of waiting until the engine is running on fumes, allot yourself some time every day or week that you can use to recuperate. This will not only give you relief on a more regular basis, but will give you focal points that you can use to overcome periods of stress.
When things are getting rough, you know there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
“Just because you take breaks doesn’t mean you’re broken.”
― Curtis Tyrone Jones
4) Check-in/Meditate
Checking in on yourself simply means that you take some time to figure out how you are feeling. You can ask…
- Are you feeling especially tired today?
- How have you been sleeping?
- Are you more grouchy than usual?
- Have you been neglecting other areas of your life?
Go through the checklist of signs listed earlier on and see if any apply to you more than usual. If so, it may be time to do something about it.
One of those things could be meditation:
For me, this was enormously helpful, especially when I discovered the lectures of Alan Watts.
There is no ‘right’ way to meditate, it is entirely down to individual needs and experiences. While Watts’ videos are a mix of self-help and eastern philosophy (namely Taosim & Zen Buddhism) there are a vast number of online resources that can give you help with guided meditation as well.
In particular, Watts’ mantra of “quiet the chatter of the mind,” resonated with me. But you, of course, need to find what works for you. Find it, and practice it regularly.
5) Know you aren’t alone
You aren’t, even when it can feel that way. Similar to realising the weight of the world is not on your shoulders, remember that you are not in this world alone. Even when your cries for help or calls to action are falling on deaf ears, there will always be some people who support you. And, even if there aren’t, still look to your avenues of support.
- Who are the people that care for you?
- Who are your role models?
- Where else in the world are people going through a similar struggling, fighting a similar fight?
Hold on to these connections. As much as possible, try to find or even build a community that you can work with — if only for mutual support. These communities do not have to help with the activism itself, and if all they do is provide you with some company, their purpose is being fulfilled.
6) Set clear goals
Short, medium, and long term goals are a good way of staying on track and setting boundaries. If your starting mission is to “end world hunger,” you are in for a very, very rough time. Instead, break down your aim. What does a world with no hunger look like? Or, at least initially, what does my community with no hunger look like?
As the saying goes:
Think globally, act locally.
Search around. What issues are you passionate about, or tired of hearing about with no solutions being brought forward for? Find an example of it in your local area. Reach out to the existing effort and see if they need any help. Volunteering, donations, online support, anything can work.
Once these smaller actions have been found, set a goal for yourself. For example, “once a week I will volunteer at the local homeless shelter.” Great, do that. Now, if ever you become enraged at the issues you see, you can know that you — at least in some small part — are making a difference.
7) Celebrate Achievements
You won’t find success every single day. But when you do, celebrate it. It doesn’t have to be something big, nor does it necessarily need to be ‘your’ success. Did you manage to send out an email today asking if a local shelter needs help? Fantastic. Did a charity supporting something you care about recently reach one of their milestones? Celebrate with them!
Find little wins in everything. This also goes hand in hand with goal setting as well. Once goals are set, achievements can be made. If you are waiting on the day world peace rolls round in order to celebrate, you are setting yourself up for a miserable time.
8) Read History
This one may seem a bit less orthodox, but it can be just as effective. Reading history on your topic of interest removes you from your current headspace. Often when talking about politics it is all concentrated on the present or near future. Your mind races and becomes fatigued with the space it is in. What are you going to do about this thing that just happened? How will this play out in the upcoming election? If you can, try to avoid this. Instead, read history.
Reading as a whole has been shown to act as a stress reliever. With history in particular, you‘ll be learning about what got us to the place we are in now. This serves two purposes.
- Better equips you to handle the problems of today.
- Shows you what we have already overcome, and the progress we have made.
Don’t be afraid to escape the present for an hour for so and delve into the past.
9) Listen to music
On a very similar note — if you pardon the pun — listening to music is an excellent way of stepping outside your own head for a second. Really, I feel this point needs no explanation. Music’s ability to quite literally unite people together, heal us, and communicate deeper meaning than words alone can provide, has been understood for millennia.
I find that if I take a 10 or so minute break after 50 minutes of writing, and spend that time listening to music, I come back massively reenergized. Find what genre, artist or song does this for you, and embrace it.
“gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination”.
— Plato
10) Change the way you do politics!
I would argue one of the most effective ways of reducing political fatigue is to change the way you do politics! It can be exhausting even just to keep up with today’s political struggles, let alone be a part of them.
My new publication Practicing Politics is a collection of ways that we — as individuals — can begin changing our political practices for the better. If this is something you are interested in, I would strongly encourage you to give us a follow and see if there is anything that might come in useful!
Practicing Politics publishes articles about new ways that we can ‘do’ our politics, to the end of creating a healthier and more productive political culture. For more articles on this topic, check out the list below, or give us a follow!
