Maybe you never thought about the upset, frustrations, or rising dread you feel regarding our environment as “Climate Change Anxiety.”
But consider what you hear, know, and think about all time:
Driving, flying, and buying things in packages at the grocery store pollute.
How we eat, farm, and use water upset the balance of land, ocean, and thriving life around the world.
Glaciers are melting, rivers are drying up, and hurricanes and tornadoes are commonplace.
How do you cope with the information and the accompanying sense of overwhelm? Anxiety is the perfect word for what you may be experiencing.
Nearly 70% of United States citizens are anxious about climate change, and 51% feel “helpless.”
- Climate Change in the American Mind
“Climate change,” as a concept, is a big one and well beyond your control. You may be dedicated to doing your part to see change occur and the ethics seem plain. Yet, the slow pace of action and the irreversibility of the changes happening to our earth is distressing.
The disregard of populations, politicians, and even people close to you, is disheartening? So much so, that you feel helpless or a perpetual sense that you are ill-equipped for impending doom and ecological collapse?
You are not alone. Intrusive thoughts, nightmares, panic, and hypervigilance regarding the environment routinely show that climate change anxiety is real and present.
So what do you do to stay calm when indifference persists & deniers are just not getting it?
Despite that feeling in your gut and the thoughts racing in your brain, all is not lost. You can cope and become a positive force for change without worrying yourself to death.
Educate Yourself: How much do you really know?
Accurate information is the key to building your sense of purpose and empowerment. You are better equipped to deal with uncertainty if you do your research. Moreover, you can meet the challenges of your community, politics, and activism if you are prepared with the most reliable facts.
Crisis always looms in sensational headlines or doomsday timelines. Remember that climate change science still contains many abstractions and shifting theories. Allow yourself time to parse out what’s clear and credible.
Embrace the Reality: What is it you need to face and accept?
Emotional awareness is important now. Climate change anxiety is laden with opportunities for denial, regret, blame, and shame. Practice these strategies instead:
Resist denial. Acknowledge your feelings, give them space to exist, and change over time.
Release climate guilt. Whether you were always climate-friendly or not is in the past. Let go, forgive yourself, forge ahead.
Recognize the need for self-compassion. Give yourself room to be human. Acknowledge that you aren't superhuman. Be intentional about self-care. You’re one person with only so much time.
Examine Your Motives: Are you force-feeding environmentalism to avoid facing your fears?
Awareness concerning your personal behavior and your behavior towards others matters greatly too. As you get a handle on your emotions, take care to treat other people with respect. If discourtesy, rage, abuse, violence, or illegal behavior are occurring in response to your climate change worries, your anxiety is out of hand.
Check in with yourself before you attend another climate change event, write another internet comment, or brutally question another person’s beliefs. Ask yourself, "Is it easier to march in anger rather than sit with my grief over climate change losses?"
Engage Others Compassionately: What can you do to encourage others to care and creatively participate?
Take a step back and consider your actions. Do they really do anything to change hearts and minds about eco-issues? Or do they create unhelpful fear, support unproductive stereotypes, and distract from more fruitful paths toward change?
The truth is, all you have is the present moment. There is very little that can be done about the past or the choices people will make 100 years from now. Today is the day to connect. Do your part to proactively build relationships and communities that we all want to preserve and protect.
Make a list of how you can influence people with kindness, creativity, compassion, and curiosity. This creates a sense of belonging. A bonded, safe place to disagree, compromise, and collaborate.
Enjoy Life as It Is: How can you live in the moment and make the most of your life?
Anxiety is the offspring of fear and avoidance. It keeps life small and sad.
Find the courage to face the truth of climate change without sacrificing the joy of your one amazing life.
You can do things that matter and make difference for the planet. And you can focus elsewhere too. You can love the planet and love yourself enough to step back from the rhetoric. Engage in other parts of your personal world as well. At times, you’ll need to get in a quiet space and journal or schedule a massage. Other times, you’ll need support to lay your climate change anxiety down.
Seek Support to Ease Your Mental and Physical Distress
Climate change anxiety is increasingly common. To manage the toll of worry, problem-solving, and your legitimate concerns for the whole planet requires tools you may not have yet.
That’s okay. That’s exactly how a knowledgeable and nonjudgemental therapist can aid you.
In other words, why try to carry the world on your shoulders? Share your distress with one of our therapists. Your mental health matters. Protect it well so that you can protect the earth the way you see fit.
We're here to help. Contact us for a free consultation.
Read more about our services here: Anxiety Therapy. Serving Boulder, Longmont, Denver.
For your other needs, you can count on April Lyons Psychotherapy Group, to help you heal and grow through EMDR therapy, somatic therapy, trauma therapy, and PTSD treatment – because we believe in your strength and potential for recovery.
