4 Tips to Help You Deal with Election Anxiety

Are you as ready as I am for this election to be over? The constant news related to both the election and COVID has put my stress level at an all time high. With a few days left to go, taking care of ourselves is vitally important. After doing a bit of research and thinking about some advice that my therapist has given me, I thought this list might help you as much as I think it's going to help me.

1. Limit News. Check news 1 or 2 times at most during the day. Staying on top of news is definitely important but constantly being bombarded is just exacerbating anxieties. If anything major happens, trust that a friend, spouse, or family member will clue you in. Spend the time you would have been pouring over news stories doing something else you enjoy!

2. Limit time on Social Media. This one is really hard right now because in many ways it's how we are staying connected to our friends and community. But, how many times have you been on Facebook and gotten heated about something a high school friend or family member posted? It's happened to me COUNTLESS times recently and it's making all the things worse. I'm going to step away from everything but business related info on social this week. I might just take up the cross-stitch project I started back in March! You can get cute options on the Jenny Lemons website.

3. Spend time outside! Walking, biking, sitting in your garden, or checking out a local park. Not only does the movement and fresh air keep you healthy, it has also been shown to elevate anxiety and stress.

4. Have the right food on hand. And I don't mean healthy food. I mean the food that makes you feel good. If you're like me that means a roasted butternut squash bowl one night, and smash burgers another night. It's about balance, right? Have a meal plan in place ahead of time, do some prep work this weekend. That way when this loooong election week hits, you'll be ready. Also cut yourself some slack if you need an extra treat this week (or decide it would be better to just order in a couple of nights).

I hope these help and just reminder yourself we are all in this together!

What have you been doing to help alleviate election stress these days?

Aromatherapy for Stress

Need an extra self-care boost? Here's a quick guide to some powerful stress reducing scents!

• Stress/Anxiety: Bergamot, Lavender, Grapefruit, Clary Sage
• Anxiety related Exhaustion/Fatigue: Cardamom, Cinnamon, Ginger, Grapefruit, Patchouli (everything but Grapefruit is in our Chai goodies, find all our bodycare with Grapefruit at this link).
• Tension/Stress: Copiaba Balsam, Cinnamon, Orange (these three are in Sweater Weather), Bergamot, Geranium, Patchouli