I think I’m having a bit of an autistic burnout moment over politics. I’m moving a lot more left over the years but just don’t feel like I can do anything. I have 2 years left on a work contract and it would be killer to lose that job, but also I want to help people in ways where quitting might be the best option. I want to learn about politics and history more, but I also don’t want to stress about it because I don’t feel like it changes things that much. Id like a community that talks about these feelings and I feel like this should be that community for me. Let’s just chat about it.
I feel this. When I start looking at the whole political climate I get very distressed, angry, and hopeless but I’ve found focusing on the small and my own local community has really helped. I can’t change what policies are happening in other regions but I can try to make positive changes in mine. I can see what gaps our community has and try to fill them. When you set your eyes too high you can miss some important steps you need to take to get where you’re trying to go.
With the alt-right push to get involved in school boards and local councils, now is THE time to get involved and push back. Real changes start small. Get involved in the established community groups that interest you, start your own if you have something particular your community needs, and learn local politics as its will be much more applicable and just much less to learn than remembering everything happening all at once on a national level.
Burnout is real. When I’m feeling good, i organise the things i want to do into checklists with big and small projects so when the burnout comes for me i can find a few boxes I have the energy to tick. (Things like picking up rubbish at the park, side of the road, baking something for a neighbour) Ticking them off and feeling like I’ve done something positive really helps light the fire again.
You can only do what you can do. Starting really small and building up your involvement is the best way to starve off burnout.
Exactly this. As an anarchist, I’m all about small communities and local involvement. Look for the ways in which you can meaningfully contribute something. Even something as simple as a conversation with a single person to help educate them in a skill you have - that’s an actual, tangible good you did for the world. The more you plug yourself in, and look for opportunities to give back, the more you’ll find yourself involved and affecting change.
For example, a few years back my employer decided to launch a bunch of employee resource groups (ERGs). Of the list of ERGs, I saw that they were making both a pride (lgbtq+) and an emerging professionals ERG, so I signed up to be a leader of both. Once we formed, I started interfacing right away on the things that I had personal grievances with - issues like the policy having non-inclusive language or needing improvement, opportunity to expand healthcare to be more lgbtq+ friendly and cover more health conditions, opportunity to expand fertility, legal, adoption, mental health and other available services, improving mentorship opportunities, improving employee education, etc. Many of these I had no idea how to do or what to do, so I solicited feedback, got into meetings with people in charge of these aspects, and in general just voiced my opinion. Along the way I was able to expand our transgender healthcare offerings, rewrote a bunch of policy, launched a gigantic t-shirt design contest for pride (20k+ t-shirts each year), expanded fertility/adoption policy, started work on mentorship, hosted a bunch of educational talks (including talking in some of them), set up a number of social groups for people to interface with each other, started talks on degendering bathrooms, and a bunch more. Very little of what I was able to accomplish in this scope was planned at the beginning and I owe most of it to simply deciding I wanted to make the world better and trying to get involved/engaged.
Heaps of good! That’s amazing 👏
One small tip i found helps out. Look at local NPR or radio stations in your area. They often have a lot of reporting on local and state issues!
Yes! Look less at the big and far stuff you can’t change and give more energy to the local where you might be able to make an impact
“All politics is inherently local” is a phrase I have heard around a lot, but honestly now it is starting to make a lot more sense than it did before.