War is scary. There's nothing simple about it. Unlike the pandemic, war is about man versus man. It can bring up a variety of different feelings. On a global scale we have gone from this environmental stressor...this environmental anxiety to one that is very much human in nature. I think it's the human element of war that is so anxiety-provoking. In cases of war, it is man against man. There is loss of life because of us in a sense. Naturally we can cope with the idea that Mother Nature has it out for us a lot differently than we cope with the idea of danger because of our own doing. The pandemic brought people together, it brought countries together, it was humanity versus this virus. War is very different from that. With war it's man against man and country against country. One of the most anxiety-inducing aspects of it is that as human beings we understand what it is like to be a human being. We understand and can put ourselves in the shoes of the victims of war and to some degree we can even put ourselves in the shoes of those who are the aggressors. As a human being coping with war, it is also important to point out that some of this anxiety comes from the fact that we know that human beings are not always logical actors, especially in the state of war and crisis. While this may feel lost and we may feel defeated, there are things we can do to cope with the global geopolitical landscape that we find ourselves in.
Step one: find a news source that you trust. There's a lot of misinformation in today's day and age, a lot of opinions floating around social media and a lot of words being thrown back and forth. It can make it difficult to really understand what's going on, especially when we find ourselves on the other side of the world.
Step 2: only check that news source a few times a day, perhaps once in the morning, once around lunch and once around dinner. Try to reduce the amount of time you spend reading the news, especially around time before bed.
Step 3: if you are inclined to do so, find a way to help. Maybe that means finding a way to donate to refugees, perhaps that means advocating your local lawmakers on what you believe is the right course of action. Anxiety can be increasingly difficult when we feel helpless. In an effort to feel less helpless we can find small ways to do something, to act.
Step four: look to history. Some say that history is our greatest teacher, I believe that there is truth in that statement. While it can be easy to see the atrocities that man has created in the past, it's also important to note that despite the atrocities, despite the wars, we have survived. It can be easy to try and match up current events with past events in history as if we're trying to fill in a puzzle that has been done before. But for all the history we've been through, the wars of yesterday are not this war. To steal a popular phrase, history teaches us to be alert and not anxious. The purpose of looking back at history is to inform the present, not run from the future. So we can look back on wars of the past as a preventative measure not as a blueprint to follow.
The truth of the matter is war is difficult, it's okay to be scared. We are living in a time that essentially jumped from one global scale historical event to another. This can bring up a lot of different feelings and a lot of different emotions.
Step five: honor your feelings by allowing them to be. Write out your feelings, draw your emotions, speak to loved ones about what's on your mind, nobody said this had to be easy nobody would blame you if it isn't. If you or a loved one are having difficulty coping with anxiety due to the geopolitical nature of this war, I feel free to reach out to us and our team and schedule an appointment.