Despite my best efforts, I still get worked up from time to time. I get heated, frustrated, and perturbed by the day-to-day in politics. Those are the moments when, just months later, I’ll find myself looking back and wondering why? Why did I let it get to me?
I had one of those retrospective moments yesterday as I worked through the development of a particular policy floating around at the federal level. Weeks ago, it was dominating all of my conversation, and today it seems unlikely at best. While in some regards that’s a positive development, I regret getting worked up over an eventual nothing burger.
So, with this recent shortcoming in mind, I thought I’d share some proven tricks that work for me when I’m getting worked over by politics. Whether it’s the result of a tense election, or an issue getting beyond your control, I think these will help you get back on the path to a level head.
1. Take a Step Back
You have to unplug. I listened in on a Clubhouse discussion about this yesterday and found myself nodding along to the moderator’s comments when she said: “Is the afternoon news really going to be all that different from the next morning’s news?”
Her point was larger than the substance of the media we consume on a daily basis. Especially in politics, even the casual passerby has a desire to feel “in the know.” It’s perfectly natural. But in the age of instant information, we stumble into the trap of wanting to be first far more often and at a truly breakneck pace.
On Day Zero of your road to recovery you have to take a step back. Start by turning off the news for a week. Consume print media instead – and I do mean print. Slow your intake, and allow yourself to rest from the cycle.
2. Find a Way to Serve Someone Else
The surest way to find success is to help others find their own. By opting toward serving others, you’re willfully placing your own mentality into a bigger picture.
Our daily work, much like our daily media consumption, can prevent us from taking in all that’s happening around us. We naturally struggle to empathize with others because of these silos we construct in our daily routines.
Find an organization that speaks to your interests and plug into their mission. Even 30 minutes of research and participation in someone else’s mission can go a long way in easing the frustrations that surround and flow through your own issues. At the same time, that work could yield a future partner on your own initiatives.
3. Spend Time with your Just Cause
Too often, politics is boiled down to winning and losing – a vote, an election, a court decision. But participatory politics isn’t about always winning (you won’t), it’s about staying in the game (you can).
I wrote about this a while back and shared some thoughts inspired by the work of Simon Sinek on developing a just cause. You can find that post here.
But in short, you have to break out of the tactical win/lose mentality and get back to strategy. Reconnecting with your own just cause will jumpstart the accountability process you’ll need to get back to center.
But I’m curious, do you find yourself in periods of frustration derived from the nitty gritty of advocacy work? If so, what tricks do you have up your sleeve to recover your own level headedness? I hope you’ll drop a comment below to let me know what you think!
Part of the Possible 
I saw an interview once of G.W. Bush asking the former president what he did to relax when trying to get some R&R from the rigors of being president while in office. His response was simply that he turned on the Rangers game. Since then, I’ve found turning on or going to see my Nationals play at the ballpark one of the best ways to re-center my thinking by shutting out the 2/4 noise of the political/policy universe.
Now, that’s not to say that my blood doesn’t get boiling when the Nats bullpen fails to get the job done on the mound or unforced errors in the backfield loose us a curly “W”. That’s a whole other issue.
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