#there are many brave and beautiful people on my dash - labor organizers and scientists and crafters and members of every community

[queerpontmercy]

doomscrolling? got the dread in your bones?

your nervous system is overwhelmed and needs help making sense of this! please take 5 minutes to help it re-orient! you can:

hum, sing, scream, or use your voice in some way to stimulate your vagus nerve

yawn, sigh

exhale more than you inhale (deep breaths are good when you're calm. but if you're not calm, you may hyperventilate). blow on your fingers like you're blowing out candles.

give yourself compassion through soothing touch (hand on heart, hand on hand, bear hug, etc)

lean on a wall or lie on the floor. push against a hard surface.

shake, kick, flail, feel your body in physical space

experience a different temperature (cold if you're sluggish and foggy, warm if your muscles are tense)

induce pressure (sit on your feet, give a tight hug, layer clothing)

you've been thrown into fight or flight literally overnight. it's next to impossible to make good decisions- tactical decisions, even - if your body is stuck in this state; the part of you that plans, assesses risk, etc, is offline and we need it online. we're all going to need each other right now, so do what you can to ride out this wave, help someone else out, do it again. rinse, repeat.