Operation Dumpster Fire: Coping Strategies For The End Of The World
The world as we know it appears to be burning down around us…
Every day I find myself talking with the most beautiful people who are barely holding on.
Hopelessness & exhaustion on their faces. Tears rolling slowly down their cheeks.
We wonder together,
“How much worse can it get? How does it keep getting worse? What can I do? I feel like I can’t do anything / enough. I am so tired.”
The daily stream of bad news affects our grocery bills, sense of security, feeling of agency, and our ability to feel safe.
This isn’t just in America. This is in Canada too.
Increasing numbers of real people don’t have access to clean water, safe housing, medical care, or enough food to eat.
So how the hell are we going to manage? How do we cope and what do we do?
Consider; today’s war is psychological.
1. When we are exhausted, divided, scared, broke, and alone we are not resourced enough to resist, refuse, and change the system we find ourselves in.
2. When we believe we can’t do anything to create change - we’re right.
3. When we forget we are beautiful, powerful, and divine beings - we stop acting like it.
4. When we forget there are hundreds of thousands of us who - in community - are working to build a better world - it’s harder to stay strong.
5. When we forget our ancestors did more with less & we did not come from weak stock - we forget our power, our agency, and our resilience.
We will not forget.
Undermining our belief in our power is a strategy and it’s working.
So what’s your counter-strategy?
Here are the tools in my dumpster fire toolkit and I hope they help you:
#1 Invoke Operation Dumpster Fire
This isn’t another casual Tuesday.
This appears to be the end of days. Different situations call for different strategies, so it’s time to revamp what your self-care plan looks like to account for the existential dread.
*Where and how do you process your grief and rage?
*Who do you feel safe around?
*What are you doing when you’re most relaxed and calm?
*What are your basic needs and are they being met?
The answers to these questions are personal for everyone but it’s worth increasing their presence in your life.
After a particularly intense week at work, I did not leave my house for an entire weekend and I just slept, ate, and watched Gossip Girl.
Potato mode or de-regulating my nervous system meant I could pop back up on Monday and resume the good fight.
Now I know, I need way more rest, more water, less screen time, more heavy weights, more stand-up comedy, and more time in nature than ever.
#2. Prioritize making yourself happy & Healthy.
We are no good to anyone when we are frayed at the edges, exhausted and scared.
Yet, so many of us are conditioned to hurt ourselves before we prioritize meeting our own needs.
By taking step one, we can re-assess what our physical, mental, and nervous system needs are at this time, and then re-prioritize meeting these needs.
This looks different for everyone but the basics are deep breaths, movement, adequate sleep, water and nutrition, and connection with people who love you.
Consider; being healthy and strong, happy, vibrant, connected, and joyful is an act of revolution in an economy that profits from our insecurities and illnesses.
#3 Re-organize
The dominant colonial capitalist patriarchy teaches us in a million small ways that individual strength and competency are morally superior to healthy interdependence - this is literally how divide and conquer works - and it’s a falsehood.
Think of all the ways we have been divided. Recognize it’s a tactic to keep you isolated, feeling hopeless and afraid. You are less likely to take action this way.
That being said, the people you used to feel safe with may not feel that way anymore. People change, and political beliefs cause division.
You may find yourself needing a new crew.
Connect with people who share your values
Reach out to people you admire and ask how they’re coping
Find groups online or in person that care about the same causes as you do
We are social creatures and we need community more now than ever.
Even if it’s a community of two or three. Stay connected. Encourage each other, validate each other, help each other.
And then, consider how we can build bridges with those that we may have “othered”. Can we separate people from their leaders? How can we find common ground?
#4 Pick your causes
“There is too much to care about!!! I can’t!”
My friend with a toddler replied in the group chat as we were discussing weaning off Meta.
She’s right. There’s too much to care about and we can’t.
So pick the top three things you care about and commit to finding ways to improve these situations for yourself and your community. Trust that the rest of us have the other issues handled.
One of my top favorite thought leaders Kelly Diels shares it most eloquently
“ We all have a place at the wall. Picking away and making progress in the causes we care most about. Trust that everyone has their spot and when you need to take a break, you can, because there is an army of us.”
A part of this is re-remembering we can control very little, but we can control many of our actions, how we spend our attention and time, and who we spend our money with.
#5 Galvanize
When you are ready, resourced, and rested (non-negotiable, please.)
Take action
Boycott the companies that don’t align with your values
Stop or reduce usage on the apps that don’t align with your values
Connect with your neighbours, colleagues and friends to source local
Learn to grow your own or make your own food
Meal swap with friends
Repair something instead of replacing it
Buy second-hand or barter
Smile at strangers
Volunteer.
Walk/bike/public transport instead of drive
Exercise instead of doom scroll
What am I missing? What should be on this list?
I’m Laurel Anne Stark and I’m a storyteller, decolonial justice advocate, technologist, and thought leader who blends ancient wisdom and modern technology to help us break free from the colonial-capitalist patriarchal system that divides us and undermines our wellbeing. I’m actively building a world where we prioritize humanity above extraction, well-being over productivity, people over profits, and belonging over division, but I can’t do it alone.
If you’d like to join me on this journey, I encourage you to follow me on socials and sign up for my newsletter. Together, we can decolonize our lives.
Yours in Solidarity,
Laurel