So it feels like a hateful deranged dictator has taken over and he's doing a lot of nazi moves and proudly espousing similar values and tons of people are helping him because theyre scared and your neighbors put him there with their votes because they thought he would lower their grocery bills and at least he's not a woman.
Oh my god, you guys. This doesn't feel like the United States of America at all and a recognizable tomorrow is not guaranteed.
And then I go into session. And some people are focused on their specific worlds or hearts feeling unstable or not quite right for personal reasons but some people are very scared for their people and their pay going away because Trump is defunding their work. Helping people, making investigative art or connecting people to healthcare or educating children and keeping teens safe are not valued by this federal government. Not at all. Wealth is. And that value is becoming the law of the land.
Maybe.
Can we address the bad things that are happening now without knowing that we're all doomed? How do we know that this is going to get worse? I mean, we have historical precedents, but this guy is not smart. We are not Europe. The masses are much more informed than ever. I don't know if he can be stopped, but I don't know that he can't. How do we know that we're completely f'ed.e
Certainty feels good, but it's kind of a problem. Certainty keeps us stuck.
Therapy encourages us to get curious, to wonder.
(Or it should, if we're doing our jobs right.)
When we wonder, we try things. Because we have hope. Sometimes the things we try work.
I would guess that very few Nazis and very few of Trump's allies have participated in psychotherapy. They don't want to understand themselves or others, they just want power. But I digress.
Are we small and useless in the face of greed and coldness? Is feeding one unemployed neighbor useless? Is having one awkward conversation with the lady in the MAGA hat useless? Are you certain?
With young people, we differentiate their current emotions from what they believe about the future.
"I spilled something on my friend's hoodie! She's going to hate me." Frantic sniffles and throwing things and catastrophic thoughts ensue.
"You're feeling scared. You really wish that hadn't happened, right? Are you extra worried right now because Ella also didn't ask you to be in her project group? "
We talk about how feelings affect thoughts. How we make predictions but right now we only know X for sure. The emotions need to be expressed so they can move on.
Strong emotions feel like proof. We're in love, we're doomed, we cannot climb down the tree.
What other stories are possible, though? What painful thing might happen if you tried a new possibility? How do you know?
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