A Berkeley-based nonprofit dedicated to the science of finding a meaningful life offered three tips of professional advice on how to deal with such a nasty election cycle.
So for those trying to deal with their “moral distress—that potent combination of moral outrage, worrying about harm that may be done, and feeling powerless to do anything about it,” Kelly McGonigal suggested these tips:
(McGonigal is a psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University who wrote a piece for the Greater Good Science Center.)
1. Do something. “Do not fall prey to what compassion researchers call “psuedoinefficacy”—the sense that because you can’t do everything by yourself, that nothing you do matters,” she wrote.
2. Look for the good.
3. Be the good by looking for a way to make “an immediate difference in your community.”
And while McGonigal didn't mention this specifically in her piece, the San Francisco Zoo offered its own de-stress techniques. Hours before the election the zoo streamed live footage of a red panda exhibit showing the cute creatures walking about their grassy home in a story that quickly became viral.
