The Avoidance Cycle

It’s been a brutal week in the fight to save science. I won’t rehash the gory details here because I’m sure you—like me—have experienced the onslaught of headlines. In these moments, there tends to be a lot of “what do we do about this” flavored conversations. So, I’m going to put my clinical psychology hat on for this post and talk about ~self-care~ in fascist takeovers. 

If you’ve been around here for long, you will have gathered that I do not consider myself an activist. This remains true. There are many people who have been doing this for a long time and have a deep understanding of organizing. This is not me, and I’m comfortable with that. What I am is an advanced clinical psychology doctoral candidate with years of training in intervention for evidence-based behavior change.

On thing I’ve seen in activism spaces is this general message of “rest is resistance” and “take care of yourself for the long haul,” which, I agree with for the most part. However, I feel these messages are often leveraged into reason for inaction. Yeah, I’m saying (with love!) that this is a cop out. Let me explain. 

This is the Avoidance Cycle. It’s something people engage in when they are feeling anxious, depressed, stressed, nervous, worried, etc. and you don’t have to have a disorder to fall into the Avoidance Cycle. So, what’s this got to do with activism?

We’ve had a brutal week. People are feeling burnt out, powerless, overwhelmed, stressed, anxious, isolated. The first inclination is to do something to preserve your resources—maybe you cancel your plans this evening or you decide not to work on plans for your next political action. In the short term, this provides a moment of relief, but you have robbed yourself an opportunity to feel empowered, to connect with others, to feel some hope. 

I am often asked “how to you stay so motivated to fight?” The answer is simple: I don’t and when I don’t, I take some action. Action makes me feel like I have some power in this awful situation. Action of all sizes is cumulative. Each action is a drop of water in a powerful wave that creates change when it crashes onto land. The Trump Administration uses the Flood the Zone approach because it disperses action by making you feel small, powerless, overwhelmed, and stressed. When you feel these ways and respond by deciding to take a break, you accomplish their goal for them. You take a drop of water from that wave. 

My admonishment to you: do something, especially, when you feel bad. 

These are not normal times, you cannot expect to feel normal. These are not particularly fun times, either. If this is your first time being in a position of feeling like the world is against you and you have no power in the situation—welcome to being marginalized. You think Black Americans have the chance to catch their breath between news of yet another young man murdered by police, yet another friend’s child unfairly arrested, yet another house being under appraised? You think international students or trans folks can “take a break” from the news? The world is counting on us to stand up for what is right. 

So, if this is your first rodeo, you gotta toughen up. I’m not saying don’t rest. I’m saying plan your rest and take it when you plan it. Otherwise, meet the moment with action. I’m telling you to stretch yourself because we are in a moment that requires extra effort. Sometimes that action is large, sometimes it is small. But do something. This is why the Summer Fight for Science has a menu of options for you to choose from. It is time to muster up your resolve, to jump into the fight, and to know that together, we are powerful!