Seven Ways to Soothe Eco-Anxiety
In my most recent podcast episode, I spoke with illustrator, Anita Bagdi about her art and how she got started. In this episode we spoke about eco-anxiety and how Anita uses this as a way into her creativity. In the follow-up meditation and writing prompt, I guided you through some ideas for how you might help yourself when you’re feeling particularly eco-anxious so I wanted to commit some ideas to print for the times when you just want a little reminder that all is not lost plus share some inspiring people and projects with to follow and/or get involved with.
The first thing to say, is that eco-anxiety means different things to different people and can be triggered by a variety of things. For me, it is the feeling that washes over me when I start thinking about the devastation and destruction we are witnessing on a daily basis in our world (I won’t list these here as I’ll start spiralling!!) and the fact that it so often feels that there is little being done by governments to combat it.
Listed below are the things that help me to soothe this anxiety and that I refer to to remind myself that all is not lost and that there are people and groups who care.
Begin by asking yourself what it is specifically that has triggered your anxiety. I’m a big believer in the importance of feeling the ‘hard’ feelings and confronting them in order to work through them. How does the anxiety feel in your body? How does it feel in your mind and what does it do to your breath? What strategies do you already have, if any, that work for you?
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Five strategies that work for me:
Create something beautiful. For me it’s about writing, sharing writing prompts and creating work that will help people to gain confidence in their own words and feel safe and inspired to connect more deeply with the nature world. When I create I feel more positive about the difference I’m able to make in the world through those little actions, even if it’s just feeling good about what I’ve just created so that when I next go to into the world I will smile at the stranger who pushes past me in the queue.
Get involved in community action. This could be a group, setting something up, attending a seed-sharing meet-up, sharing recipes or eco-conscious ideas with your neighbours, donating time or money to a local earth-centred community group. If a community group is eco-conscious, it will usually, by default, also be focused on important aspects like inclusion, access, helping local people so you can tick all those wonderful boxes.
Do something small every day. We can all do something to help our planet and I always talk on the podcast about the small actions we can take that don’t have to cost much to do, and will often end up saving money in the long, if not the short term! Some ideas are:
Using less water,
Turning off room lights when you’re not using them
Going peat-free in your garden, investing in a food waste wormery or starting a compost heap if you can,
Supporting your local zero waste shop for dry goods when you can,
Cycling, walking or taking the bus/using public transport instead of using your car if you have one,
Investing in an eco egg for your washing or a moon cup if you have a menstrual cycle,
Switching your energy supplier to Ecotricity if you’re in the UK and your search engine to Ecosia
These are all great ways of doing something every day. It can take time to build up your practices, especially if there’s a financial investment involved but they are so worth it and you’ll feel better that you’re doing something.
Use my free meditations here and/or on the podcast. If you’re a regular listener to the podcast, you may already have your favourite meditation to use when you sense that feeling of anxiety rising. If not, have a look at the meditation and writing prompts for series one, episode five and series two, episode five as these are the two that I use the most frequently to soothe my nervous system and bring it into the rest and recover state when it all gets a bit much and I feel the ‘fight or flight’ kicking in. You can also find a few free meditations in the ‘free meditations’ section of the website. These are recording I created as part of my Meditate with Helen body of work that have universal appeal and that I hope you will find useful.
Remind yourself that you are not alone. We are all in this together and if this blog and my podcast prove anything it’s that there are so many people who care as much as you do who are doing the work to try and help rather than hinder. I’m a big believer that public pressure on governments and businesses is what will change things and the more of us that raise our voices and show our faces, even when it may seem unpopular, the better. Have a listen to my ‘Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is’ episode if you are looking for small, earth-conscious businesses and creators to support and keep your eyes open for an upcoming blog post on my favourite ‘green’ podcasts and social media accounts to follow and learn from.
Get outside! Go to your favourite natural space and remind yourself of what we have and why this is such a beautiful planet worth fighting for.
Get help if you need it. I will always, always tell you to get help if you need it. If your eco-anxiety reaches the point where panic attacks are frequent, you are struggling to get out of bed and things just start to become a little ‘darker’, please, please, please seek professional help. Begin by speaking to a sympathetic friend or family member and if this doesn’t help, make an appointment with you GP and ask to be referred for counselling. If you have the means, you can go private, but please get help if you need it. Mind UK is a great place to get started and the NHS have a page listing all UK mental health charities here.
What are you favourite ways of soothing your eco-anxiety? Join me in the comments below, I’d love to know!
Sending you love,
Helen x
