The Eco-Anxiety news is really getting to me. One day I see that there are fires in Canada. The day I hear that there are terrible floods in South Asia. The glaciers are getting smaller the coral reefs are. The seasons do not feel like they used to. If you are sitting there looking at the news on your phone and you feel worried or you feel scared or you feel like you cannot do anything to help then you are not the one who feels this way. The news about climate change is always there the news about climate change is very sad. The news, about climate change is frightening.
You are feeling really worried about the environment. This is affecting you. The Earth and the environment are things that you care about deeply. It is causing you a lot of stress. The environment and the Earth are very important, to you.
This thing is not something that doctors treat. It makes sense when you think about how bad things are for the Earth. The American Psychological Association says it is like being really scared all the time that the planet’s in big trouble. Knowing what it is called does not help when you wake up at 3 AM and feel really anxious or when you feel bad about buying vegetables that are wrapped in plastic. The fear of what’s happening to the Earth is a big problem, for people who care about the planet and it can be really hard to deal with the guilt of buying plastic-wrapped vegetables or using things that harm the Earth.
This guide is not about ignoring the fact that climate change’s real. It is, about finding the strength to deal with climate change. Climate change is a problem and we need to be able to handle it. We have to stop feeling stuck and start doing something about climate change. We need to go from feeling like we cannot do anything to actually doing something about climate change.
Understanding the Beast
We need to understand what makes eco-anxiety tick before we can deal with it. Eco-anxiety is different from kinds of anxiety that are often based on fears that do not make sense. The thing with eco-anxiety is that it is based on facts from science. This is what makes it so hard to get over. You cannot just use therapy, like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to make the problem of the earth getting warmer go away. The fact that the planet is warming is still going to be and this is a big part of eco-anxiety.
The thing, about anxiety is that it shows up in different ways for the anxiety. Sometimes the anxiety is very obvious and times the anxiety is hidden. The anxiety can be really tough to deal with because it affects people in ways and that is what makes the anxiety so hard to understand.
The Guilt Trap is a thing where you feel really bad about yourself. This happens when you think you are to blame for something like global warming. It can be something that you did like forgetting your reusable cup at home. You start to feel personally responsible for warming just because of that one mistake, with the reusable cup.
The Doom Spiral is when you think things are so bad that it is already too late. You just give up. You stop trying to make things better because you believe the Doom Spiral is going to pull everything down. This is what happens when you get stuck in the Doom Spiral. You feel like you are trapped. There is no way, out of the Doom Spiral.
The Empathy Burnout is a tough thing to deal with. It is when you feel the pain of every displaced animal and every single person who is suffering. You feel it deeply that after a while you start to feel numb. This happens because you have been feeling the pain of all these displaced animals and people for long. The Empathy Burnout is a state where you’re so overwhelmed, by the suffering of displaced animals and people that you do not feel anything anymore.
Noticing these patterns is the step. You are not crazy, for caring about things you are actually an empathetic and informed person. The main goal here is not to stop caring about these things but to find a way to care about them in a way. Caring about things is important and caring sustainably is the key.
The Mental Toolkit for Coping
- Validate Your Feelings
The first way to deal with this problem is to accept it. We live in a world where people are always buying things and trying to make money so it can be really lonely to feel sad about what’s happening to the Earth. Feeling sad, about the planet can be an isolating experience. The planet is something that we all care about. It is hard to see it being hurt. The planet and its problems are something that we need to think about and try to fix.
Say it loud. I am scared for the future. I am angry at the inaction of our leaders. The future is what I am scared for. The inaction of our leaders is what I am angry at. We need to talk about the future and the role of our leaders in it. Our leaders must do something about the future. The future is important to me. I do not like the inaction of our leaders.
- I am scared for the future
- I am angry at the inaction of our leaders
I want our leaders to take action and make the future better. The future and the inaction of our leaders are connected. I am scared, for the future because of the inaction of our leaders.
Here is how it works. When you try to suppress your emotions it takes a lot of energy.. When you acknowledge your emotions you free up that energy and you can use it to do something. The thing is, grief is something you feel when you love something. So when you feel grief for the planet that means you really care about the planet. Your grief for the planet shows that you have a connection to the planet. The planet is something you love. That is why you feel grief, for it.
- Curate Your Media Diet
We live in a world where people are always looking for something to pay attention to and bad things happening is what gets attention. When we constantly read news, which some people call “doomscrolling” our body gets ready to either fight or run away and this happens over and over. This makes us feel stressed all the time. The news is always, about something and when we read this news it makes our body feel like it needs to fight or run away and this is what doomscrolling does to us it makes us feel stressed because of all the bad news we read about catastrophe.
The Strategy:
Limit consumption: Check the news once a day, not every hour.
Diversify sources: For every report on carbon emissions, read a report on renewable energy milestones.
Follow the people who are known as “Solutionists”. These are the scientists, engineers and activists who are actually working on solutions to problems. They are not just talking about the problems. For example you can follow Project Drawdown and Positive News. These are groups that are doing something, about the problems we are facing. Follow the Solutionists who are coming up with answers.
- Reframe Your “Sphere of Control”
Anxiety is something that people get when they try to control things that are happening in the world like global geopolitics but they do not pay attention to the things that they can actually control like what is going on in their own local community. Anxiety comes from trying to deal with geopolitics and not focusing on our local community. We get anxious when we think about things, like geopolitics.. We should think about our local community instead because that is something we can actually do something about.
The Circle Exercise is really simple. First you draw a circle. Then you write down the things you have control over inside the circle. This includes the food you eat the choices you make when you vote how you get around and the things you do to help your community.
You also write down the things you cannot control outside the circle. These are things like what China decides to do with its coal policy or what the weather will be, like year. The Circle Exercise helps you understand what you can and cannot control, like your diet and your vote and what you cannot control, like Chinas coal policy and the weather.
So when you start to feel panic coming on look at the circle and make a conscious effort to shift your attention to something, in the inner circle. This helps you deal with the panic by focusing on the circle. Whenever panic rises try to move your attention to the circle.
Action as Antidote
Psychologists often say that action is the antidote to despair. This means that when we feel down doing something can help us feel better. However not all action is the same. Sometimes people do things really fast and frantically because they feel guilty and this kind of action is not good, for us. It can make us feel tired and unhappy. What we need is action that we can keep doing without getting tired we need action, action that is sustainable.
- The Trap of Individual Perfectionism
Lots of people worry about being the environmentalist. They want to do everything right you know, have zero waste be a vegan and never take a flight. The environmentalist wants to achieve all these things at the time.. When the environmentalist does not succeed the environmentalist gets really discouraged.
The Shift: We do not need one person doing sustainability perfectly we need one billion people doing sustainability. Lots of people are going to make mistakes with sustainability. That is okay. We just need one billion people to try and do sustainability even if they do not do it perfectly. This is what we need for sustainability. One billion people doing sustainability that is the goal.
The best way to make a change is to pick one thing that you think is really important like eating meat. Then you have to stick to it. Do not worry about the things you did wrong before like using a straw yesterday. Just focus on the change you are making now like reducing the amount of meat you eat. This is the key, to making a difference. You have to let go of the guilt you feel for what you did like using that plastic straw. The change you are making now like eating meat is what really matters.
- Join a Collective
Eco anxiety is a problem when we are alone. It tells us “We have to do everything by ourselves.”. The truth is, we need to work together to make big changes happen. We cannot do it alone because changing the way things are done requires a lot of people and organizations to work. Eco anxiety is a problem that affects people and we need to talk about eco anxiety and find ways to deal with it.
Find your tribe: Join a local community garden, a climate action group (like Extinction Rebellion, Fridays for Future, or local conservation NGOs), or even a bird-watching club.
Being around people who actually care about you is really helpful. It makes you feel less alone. When you are with them you remember that you have a team of people who are on your side the team is made up of people who care about you. The team helps you to see that you are not, by yourself.
- Connection with Nature (Ecotherapy)
We spend most of our time inside staring at screens. At the same time nature is really important to us and it is funny that we worry about losing nature. Nature is something that we need to care about. It seems weird that we do this. We should be outside enjoying nature of being, on our computers and phones all the time looking at screens and worrying about losing nature.
Forest Bathing, which is also known as Shinrin-yoku is really good for you. When you do Forest Bathing you should spend time in nature without thinking about what you need to do. Do not go for a hike just to get some exercise. Just be in the forest. Enjoy it. Forest Bathing is about being in nature and taking it easy. When you are Forest Bathing you can just sit there. Do nothing or you can walk around slowly and look at the trees and the animals. The main thing is to be, in nature and relax. Forest Bathing is a way to unwind and feel better.
Grounding: Touch the soil. Plant a seed. Watch a tree sway in the wind.
The Science: When we spend time outside like two hours a week it really helps us feel better. It lowers the stuff in our body like cortisol and blood pressure. We should remember what we want to achieve not what we do not want. This means we have to think about what we’re fighting for and that is very important.
Building Emotional Resilience
- The Concept of “Active Hope”
Joanna Macy, a scholar who studies how people feel about the earth came up with the idea of “Active Hope”. This is different, from being optimistic. Joanna Macys “Active Hope” is something you do not something you feel.
Optimism is when you think that things will work out okay. You feel like everything will be alright in the end. Optimism is a thing to have because it helps you feel happy and hopeful, about the future. When you have optimism you think that good things will happen to you and that optimism will help you get through times.
Active Hope is when you really want things to turn out well so you do something about it. You do not just. See what happens. You work hard to make things go the way you want even when it seems like things are not going to work out. Active Hope is, about taking action no matter what the chances are and trying to make good things happen with Active Hope.
When you wake up ask yourself this question: what’s one meaningful thing that you can do today? Do not worry about things like will we survive the 50 years. Just think about what you can do today that will make a difference. Focus on the things that the world needs from you today like helping someone or doing something for the environment. Think about what you can do to make today a day for yourself and for the people, around you. What thing can you do today?
- Managing “Pre-Traumatic Stress”
A lot of people worry about things that might happen to them in the future. They think about disasters that could happen someday. Disasters are a concern, for many people. Many people are afraid of disasters.
Mindfulness is about being, in the moment. So I want to practice staying in the now. At this moment I need to ask myself if I am safe. Is there air for me to breathe right now?
If you are worried about floods or fires get a Go Bag ready. This might seem strange. Taking the time to get things ready can really help calm down the part of your brain that worries you are not ready for something bad to happen. The idea of a Go Bag is to have everything you need in one place so you can grab it. Go if something like a flood or fire happens. Having a Go Bag can be a help because it shows you that you are ready, for an emergency and that can make you feel a lot better.
- Radical Imagination
The end of the world is something we can picture. The end of capitalism or our use of fossil fuels is really hard to imagine. This is because we are not thinking about these things in an enough way. We need to think about the world in a manner. The idea of the end of capitalism or fossil fuels is just not something that we consider.
Let us think about what the future can be like. We need to imagine a city that’s really green. What does this green city look like? I want to picture it in my mind. How does the air smell, in this city? Are there a lot of trees and flowers? How do people get around in this city? Do they. Ride bikes?
If we do not have a picture of what the future should be like then we will not be able to make it happen. We need to know where we are going so that we can have hope for the future. The future has to be something that we can imagine. That is sustainable. If we cannot imagine a future then we cannot build a sustainable future. Hope for the future requires us to have an idea of what we want the future to be, like.
Talking to Others (Without Losing Your Mind)
I get really upset when people I know do not care about the earth. This happens when my parents do not think climate change is real. It also happens when my friends fly on airplanes a lot.. It is very frustrating when politicians do not do anything to help the earth. Climate change is a problem and it makes me worried, about the future. I wish people would take climate change seriously and do something to help the earth. Climate change is a deal and we need to do something about it.
- Avoiding the “Blame Game”
When you shame someone it does not usually make them change what they are doing. Instead it makes them feel like they need to defend themselves. Shaming people is not a good way to get them to change their behavior because it just makes them feel bad and want to argue back. It is the shaming that causes people to become defensive.
When I talk to people about the environment I try to say what I think and feel. I do not say “You are hurting the planet with that car”. I say “I get really upset about the air getting dirty so I am trying to drive my car often. This is not easy for me to do. I think about the planet and I want to help so I am trying to drive. The planet is important, to me and I want to take care of it that is why I am trying to drive.
- The Power of Vulnerability
When you say you are scared that is really powerful. People can disagree with numbers and things they read. They cannot disagree with how you feel. When you are open and honest about your feelings that helps people connect with you than just arguing with you. Vulnerability is like an invitation, to people to talk to you and understand you of just debating with you about the facts. Being scared is a feeling that people can relate to and that is what makes it so powerful. People can see that you are being real and honest. That is what makes them want to connect with you rather than just arguing with you about statistics and facts.
Conclusion: The Long Game
Managing eco-anxiety is something we have to work on every day. It is not something we can do once and then forget about. There will be days when the air is filled with smoke and eco-anxiety comes back. That is okay. We will have days, like that. It is normal to feel that way about eco-anxiety.
You are a part of the earth. It is alive. The anxiety you feel is a sign that you’re able to survive and that you care about things very much. Do not try to make the anxiety go away. Use the anxiety to do something. The anxiety is a part of you and the earth. The earth is a living planet. You are a part of it. Use your anxiety to help the earth and yourself.
When the body of the person is feeling tired it is an idea to rest for a while. However it is very important not to give up on the things that the person wants to do. Rest is necessary for the body of the person. Quitting is not a good solution to the problems of the person. The person should. Then get back to the things that the person wants to do because rest will help the body of the person to feel better and it will give the person more energy to do the things that the person wants to do.
Rest is good for the body of the person. Quitting is not good, for the person so the person should rest when the person is tired but the person should not quit.
It is okay to feel sad when you need to. You should not give up feeling hopeful. Grief is a part of life. Hope is what helps us get through the tough times. When you are grieving just remember that hope is still there, for you and it will help you feel better someday. Grief and hope are two things that people experience. They can happen at the same time so do not lose hope even when you are grieving.
Act where you can, but forgive yourself for what you cannot control.