How can we cope? From a therapist who needs her therapist.

How are we coping with the intensity? How are you dealing with the existential anxiety and stress of this day and age? More specifically, how can we support people who are directly impacted by things that are outside of their control? We are all impacted by things outside of our control. As a therapist, I have the privilege of hearing people’s internal struggles, fears, hopes, dreams, regrets, and goals. It is not often that I feel like I have no resources or solutions to offer.

Oh, you have anxiety, can’t sleep, or have panic attacks? Breathe. Have you tried the 4,6,8 breathing pattern? Have you tried the 5,4,3,2,1, grounding tool? Breathing is your friend. Yes, look at the clouds passing by, that is what we do, look at the clouds in the sky, they move and morph. You are noticing, no judgment. Same with your feelings. There is one, notice it, name it, non-judgmentally, and let it go, release.

Oh! You have depression, lack of interest in getting out of bed, sleeping a lot? Yes, exercise, sleep hygiene, healthy food, socializing, and talking to friends all help. Have you tried SSRIs, NSRIs, Ketamine, or TMS? Yoga? The 70% therapy and 30% medication is a great combo.

But these days, the issues that are shared in sessions are quite hard to offer solutions to.

You are worried that AI is taking over the world, and will remove all the usefulness for human thinking? You are worried that your basic rights to be who are, to marry who you love, to dress how you feel, to align your internal experience with your external presentation, or to have your very real documents reflect a very real reality, are being systematically stripped from you? Or maybe some people thinking that access to hormones is somehow only a few people’s issues? Everyone has hormones.

I know we are all female first, in utero. I know! It is crazy how people forget. People forget. How is a gradient and spectrum of life, color, gender, joy, feelings, and an ombre of existence somehow hard to understand? Your brother once described a person as a “two-dimensional lizard”? Yes, two-dimensional lizards have difficulty with nuance and gradients. It takes at least three dimensions to get that. I understand.

You wonder what matters, what is important, what makes a difference? Does recycling still make a difference? I love my Keurig, too, and yes, it IS sad that their pods are not recyclable.

Oh, wildfires and snowstorms in places that never see snow? Have you tried breathing? Exactly.

Hmm… have you tried breathing? Yeah.

Honestly, sometimes breathing is the only thing we can control. Oh, you vape? ….