Self-care in the era of woke

Five tips to make sure you don't lose your mind.

A week after Donald Trump was elected in 2016, I flew off to Peru for a 10-day spiritual retreat, and I truly believe that experience is the reason why I didn’t get sucked into the woke mindset when all of my friends did just a few years later.

The thing is that when you are truly secure with who you are and aren’t looking to others for validation, you are much less likely to engage in an authoritarian mindset that the woke have embraced.

That means that if you’re serious about being an unwoke activist, self-care is essential. Not only will it make you a stronger fighter, but it will set you up to stay the course in the long term rather than allowing burnout to rear its ugly head at the worst possible moment.

Here are five simple strategies that you can begin to implement today to maintain your sanity in an insane world.

Be a creator.

There are two types of people in this world: Creators and destroyers.

• Creators are people who give value to the world in some way, whether that way is something big or small. The size of the contribution is not what matters - what matters is the creator believes what they have to share with the world is important and valuable.

• Destroyers do just the opposite. Destroyers don’t have the self-worth to believe that what they have to offer the world is valuable. To cope, they focus their energy and attention on destroying the good work of others.

If you’re not creating, you’re destroying. And one of the biggest traps people fall into when they are fighting the woke is that they become the monster they’re fighting against. One of the reasons the woke are the way they are is a lack of self-esteem or self-worth. They’re destroyers.

So, figure out a way to be a creator.

Life is about balance - if you spend all day reading bad news, of course, you’re going to think the world is a terrible place! That’s why it’s so important for you to spend your time doing things that feed you.

What do you love to do? What could you do for hours without stopping to look at the clock? What makes you feel amazing?

Be honest with yourself about your answers to these questions. I didn’t ask you what would make you money, or what would make your parents happy - I ask you what you LOVE. Then, make time to do that.

I’m not suggesting you make a career out of your passion, though certainly, it is a possibility if you want to - you can make money at almost anything. But money is not our goal. Our goal is for you to spend some of your time doing something that you love and that gives value to the world for the sheer joy of it. Giving yourself that gift will help you replenish your emotional resources for when you need them the most.

Choose your emotions wisely.

Most people think that the emotions we have are the result of our experiences in the world - bad things happen to us and that makes us feel a certain way about it.

However, exactly the opposite is true. Our emotions are not dependant on our experience in the world - our emotions DICTATE our experience in the world. If you are committed to experiencing positive emotions no matter what, it doesn’t matter if bad things might happen to you along the way - you will generally have a more positive experience with those things than someone who has given in to the urge to embrace negative emotions.

You have to perceive that you are responsible for choosing your emotions every second of every day. If you’re experiencing something negative, simply close your eyes for a moment and remember a time when you felt good or positive. Allow yourself to relive that experience, bringing those positive emotions into your experience.

Our brain does not know the difference between emotions we are experiencing based on things that are happening to us, and emotions we are experiencing based on memories that we’re having. Don’t resist the positive emotions associated with those memories - they will put you in an advantageous position to fight back against the overly negative emotions you’re going to feel coming from the woke.

At the beginning of each day, write down which emotion you want to focus on that day: Happiness, excitement, love, joy, triumphant. Make a note for yourself in an area where you will see it (like a sticky note on your computer monitor) that will remind you of your commitment if the going gets tough.

Allow yourself to laugh.

Trump issues press releases because he knows people will tweet them.

Marjorie Taylor Greene and AOC debating the Green New Deal.

Ben Shapiro buying a single piece of wood at Home Depot to own the libs.

Even as the world burns, there are so many things to enjoy about it.

Brett Meiselas @BMeiselas

*Ben Shapiro goes to Home Depot* Shapiro: “Yes, I’ll have one wood please.”

When Donald Trump was elected in 2016, I wasn’t happy about it. Ok, I might have cried. But I also managed the situation a lot better than most of my lefty friends because I found humor in the entire situation. Even as I saw watching MSNBC nightly, convinced colluding with Russia was a real thing, I still laughed. And I truly believe that’s one of the things that kept me from getting sucked into the woke mindset - I genuinely found the entire thing hilarious.

Yes, the things that the woke are doing to our society are serious, but it’s OK to have a sense of humor about it. In fact, mockery is one of the best ways to fight them! Humor is always preferable over anger - if you don’t laugh, you’ll probably end up crying.

Meditate.

Yeah, ok. I know meditation seems woo-woo and cheesy for some of you, but it truly is the magic bullet when it comes to mental health.

Meditation is a gift that you give to yourself to spend a few moments every day focused on yourself. It keeps you grounded, can build your confidence, help you create visions for successful realities, and teaches you how to focus your energy and attention on the things that matter the most.

There is no right way to meditate. You can do it sitting, standing, or even walking. You can do it in the day or night. You can meditate for five minutes, or five hours. You can listen to guided meditations to have something to focus your energy on, or you can just shut your eyes, breathe deeply, and let yourself go.

The best way to know what works for you is to experiment and try out a lot of different types of meditation. Look for apps or free guided meditations on YouTube or Spotify just to get started.

When you first start, it will be hard, but accept that - just shoot for five minutes a day. Once you can do that well, try 10 minutes. The important thing is not the length - it’s the consistency. Show up determined to give yourself that precious gift every single day for 30 days. At the end, evaluate how you feel and where you’ll take your practice from there.

I’ve yet to meet a single person who regretted learning to meditate - there’s a reason for it.

Mind your mindset.

Sometimes, fighting the woke can seem like an overwhelming adversary. They control every major institution in our society and are absolutely in the power position.

However, you have to allow yourself to see that success is a possibility. If you don’t see success as possible, you are significantly less likely to take action. Instead, you’ll focus on things that don’t really matter in the long run to deflect.

For example, people spent two straight weeks complaining about Jill Biden being called “Dr.” They screamed about United Airlines setting an arbitrary goal for women and people of color in their pilot training program. They dunked on LeBron James tweeting a virtue signal in reference to the police shooting in Columbus.

And not a single one of those things moved the needle on the woke. All they did was get people outraged over things that do not make the slightest bit of difference when it comes to returning our culture to sanity. And I believe it was driven by people who are more inclined to complain than they are to fight back.

Those people hurt our fight. They don’t help it.

On the flip side, when you believe that success is possible, you are more likely to take productive action. You’re more likely to reach out to parents in your neighborhood to discuss what’s being taught in the schools. You’re more likely to get on your company’s diversity committee to have a say in what type of training you’re doing. You’re more likely to have conversations with people you work with to learn who your unwoke allies are. You’re more likely to share information with your friends and loved ones to help them fight back.

Yes, we have an uphill battle on our hands, but if everyone who was against the woke spoke up now, it would all be over in an instant.

This is possible. It is a winnable battle. When the going gets tough, remind yourself that you’re fighting on the side of the good guys, and the arch of history does bend towards justice (though not the kind of justice our little social justice warriors are hoping for).

If you get down, some music can help you get back on track. Listen to songs of optimism and gratitude like this one to remind you that there are so many reasons to be optimistic.