Election Recovery and Activism: A Mental Health Perspective
Wit & Reason with Dr. Alexis Moreno
In this engaging podcast episode, join host psychologist Dr. Alexis and therapist Alex Honigman, LICSW, as they delve into the intricate connections between mental health, activism, and emotional recovery following the 2024 U.S. elections. Drawing from their expertise as mental health professionals and their shared journey as activists, they provide practical strategies for managing anxiety, processing grief, and fostering resilience in challenging times.
Tune in as Dr. Alexis and Alex share their personal experiences, thought-provoking insights, and actionable advice on how to engage in activism sustainably while maintaining emotional well-being. Through candid discussions, they explore the importance of community, intentionality, and the creative ways people are redefining activism beyond protests and rallies. Alex offers a unique perspective on how social and psychological factors shape our responses to change and stress, encouraging listeners to find empowerment through small, value-driven actions.
Don’t miss this episode if you’re eager to learn how to navigate personal and societal transitions while aligning your mental health and activism with your core values.
Guest
Alex Honigman,LICSW, MA Clinical Director
Alex Honigman, LICSW, MA
CLINICAL DIRECTOR, SPEAKER, THERAPIST, & EXECUTIVE COACH
Alex (he/him) enjoys the relationship between the psyche and society. Having never wanted to pick a side in the nature versus nurture debate he pursued degrees in both Psychology and Sociology and finally a Masters of Social Work with an emphasis on clinical interventions. He has worked as an educator for non-profits and lecturer for Universities. Starting as a therapist for survivors of trauma, moving on to perpetrators and spent significant time as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker at a Forensic State Hospital. Alex continues to emphasize culture as a key component to effective therapy and the changing of systems (organizations and businesses). Whether this be through; music, film, tv, art, comics, games, memes or other aspects of popular (or sometimes unpopular) culture. Utilizing an individuals cultural values to make for a more meaningful individualized therapeutic intervention.
Host
Dr. Alexis Moreno - Wit & Reason
ALEXIS MORENO, PSYD, MA, MS - SHE/HER
PSYCHOLOGIST, HEALTH CORRESPONDENT, Speaker, & Founder
Dr. Alexis (she/her) utilizes the powerful impact awareness, education, & opportunity have on mental health. She mindfully creates fun & supportive experiences for her speaking and media audience and private clients to safely explore their true values, learn new healthy practices, & take action steps toward living authentically.
She has a Doctorate in Clinical Community Psychology, a Master of Arts in Marriage & Family Therapy, & a Bachelor of Science in both Television Broadcasting & Psychology. With over 16 years of experience in media & psychology, she aims to make mental health relatable & accessible for all through her coaching, consultation, & media outreach.
Dr. Alexis provides media, speaking, & mental health consultation services. Book a complimentary consult with Dr. Alexis to arrange services today!
Resources from the Show
Redeem your 30-day Guest Pass for meditations, wellness lessons, and sleep aid via Aura Health App
The impact of election stress: Is political anxiety harming your health? - American Psychological Association, 2024
Self-Care in the Movement - Learning for Justice, 2023
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Episode Transcription
Dr. Alexis: Welcome to DC Radio. I'm Dr. Alexis Moreno.
Alex: I'm Alex Honigman.
Dr. Alexis: And we are both mental health professionals. And married.
Alex: True.
Dr. Alexis: We're going to be celebrating seven years in a few days. And we are best friends, if I may say.
Alex: That's true. That is true. I like you more than everybody. It's
Dr. Alexis: a good side of either my awesomeness or a bad side of everyone you know who's probably listening to this show.
Alex: Love you guys.
Dr. Alexis: We also work together. Two different companies, Witten [00:01:00] Reason, our mental health and consultation practice, and Luna de Honey, our wellness design company, business, wellness consultation, and we are also very engaged activists. Together. Very true. We hold many roles. We do. But I mean. And alongside each
Alex: other.
I would say that they're not actually all that different from each other. Because the idea of creating mental health spaces and making sure that we're engaged in mental health. is the same as, for example, your home and how much it meant your mental health and home, like need to be integrated and those things.
So like those things aren't too disparate. And with that also comes a lot of activism because we see a lot of things in this world and we engage with a lot of people who need help. So we do tend to come from places of, I mean, I'm a social worker. It just says everything. Right. But, and you're a community psychologist.
You're not just a psychologist, but you're also like a community psychologist.
Dr. Alexis: He likes to emphasize, which [00:02:00] is fair. Not only are not all psychologists and therapists and doctors created equal, but your specialty does say a lot about your education and your values set. And so community psychology is a very.
Specific and very rare specialization within psychology that does lean more sociology social work. you know, aesthetic.
Alex: I'll co sign for you. Yeah,
Dr. Alexis: thanks. So a lot of people don't really get that and that's what I really appreciate about you is that you get how mental health and wellness is integrated in everything that we do.
Yep.
Dr. Alexis: From design all the way to human rights and law and art and yeah, art, creativity and everything that we do. And so with that said, in all of our different roles, both [00:03:00] personally and professionally, we too have been Going through the process of recovering from the U. S. elections for 2024.
Alex: Fair. Yeah, no, I think we both handle it very differently, but I think we both have a lot to like process there.
I kind of jokingly say that like come around midnight of the election night, I mean, and this goes for any given year for the most part, actually, I all of a sudden am fully booked for the rest of the week and the rest of the couple of weeks as a therapist, because working in these spaces and working with folks who are actively involved in the world in some way, shape or form and high performers and all sorts of things, they're affected by these things.
Politics affects everything and everyone in different ways. And so. I think for me, I, I dive right into these things. I don't really feel like I have a lot of time to process myself,
but I
Alex: also think going through that process actually does a lot for me to be processing, [00:04:00] which is interesting. Do
Dr. Alexis: you end up having some kind of parallel experience?
Alex: I just kind of allow them, this is, therapy's their space. It's not mine. So like to allow them to express and engage and do those things, I think that's really important. I think for me, it's afterwards, like I'll reflect on, Hey, I like how they approached this idea or. Oh yeah, I feel the same way at times and as we both kind of work through how do you get through this and move towards healthy and make sure that you're engaged in healthy processing, taking agency or empowerment.
Dr. Alexis: Working in therapy and even like
Alex: wellness coaching,
Dr. Alexis: it's like a fair constant daily reminder. Of what we're supposed to be doing.
Alex: Yep. I always say it.
Dr. Alexis: How we're supposed to be engaging in life in healthy ways.
Alex: People always get surprised. I give like anecdotal evidence, things that I'm like, hey, here's what I really do where I'll be like, look, like journaling is important and I'll show my journal that I'm writing it.
Here it is. And I'll be like, you do that? I'm like, yes. Like I'm not a hypocrite. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I tell you to do these [00:05:00] things because I find them valuable in a lot of different ways. Now us finding the tool that's exactly and honed for you is our journey together helping you get through that. Yeah. And find that thing.
Yeah. I'll totally try anything.
Dr. Alexis: Not all therapists are created equal, and not all therapists Practice what they preach. I'm almost impressed that they don't get, it's like, how do you not, when you're seeing the consequences of not doing it in your face every day with your clients and, and you're speaking to what needs to be done every day.
Alex: Yeah.
Dr. Alexis: Yeah. Um, and yet you're still not doing it. Yeah. That's kind of impressive.
Alex: So this week has been really busy with walking through a lot of different kind of themes. A lot of them has to do with anxiety, fears of the unknown and transitions and conceptions of change. And I think that's like really when you think about regardless of where you are, what you're doing, that idea of change.
Is is tough. Change is tough for everybody. Mm-Hmm. , I mean, on the family feud, board of stress, [00:06:00] number one that people report is moving. Yeah. Right. What else is change except, you know, changing your home, for example, a huge idea of change. You feel just that displacement. There's a whole field of. Psychology, like change processing, right?
Yeah. And organizational psychology. We should do a whole episode on change. I will nerd out about change any day. I know you will too. You're so good at that stuff.
Dr. Alexis: Since we might kick off from this episode on election recovery and activism, mental health for activists. We might follow this up with a change.
That sounds like an appropriate follow up to this. So curious about how you all have been doing. Take this time to reflect on your process post election. How have you been emotionally processing, if at all? We're going to be diving into some suggestions, some practices to engage in, in both the recovery process.
And just even the [00:07:00] long term mental health practices that we should be engaging in. So that way, number one, we could be healthy and well, and then number two, as an extra bonus, we can continue engaging in our values and activism.
Alex: So for you, how do you feel like you engage people in those ideas, that recovery?
What do you notice? As far as the processing of emotions.
Dr. Alexis: Dude, I have allowed myself to sob. I, for, you know, first week, I just at times would feel myself on the verge of tears. Obviously, I need to still function, so. I would take breaks from crying, but then at times notice where it's just on the verge. If I was to answer someone's check in question of how you're doing, I would just start sobbing, which has happened on the phone with friends.
Definitely processing a lot more [00:08:00] sadness, confusion, frustration, disappointment. I'm hearing
Alex: a skeleton of like the stages of grief. Totally.
Dr. Alexis: And I'm seeing this a lot online too, which is really interesting because people are In their own way, openly processing online on social media. I don't think they realize that they're doing it, but they're going through the stages, including denial, kind of hope that they're right with their denial.
But more likely it's we're all just going through the waves.
Alex: Yeah. And when it comes to that, I think there's a lot of, we need to continue to have vulnerable conversations around those things, vulnerable spaces around those things. I think there's a lot to be done when it comes to processing the difference between say your stress and then your anxiety.
And you're worried because your stressors are always going to be there. The stressors are the parts of your life. The anxiety is how you're going to feel about said stress. But then the worry I think is what gets you because you start kind of persevering on what the things that we can't control, the things that we don't know.
Like what's going to
Dr. Alexis: happen?
Alex: Are they going to do this? Are they going to do that? Am I going to have my job? Am I not going to have my job? [00:09:00] All of the kind of circular things that number one, you can't control it. And thinking about what ifs are endless and
Dr. Alexis: that's like a common thing we talk about in sessions is like when people start filing on the what ifs, it's like, okay, but they're endless.
We're going to be doing this forever, you know, so let's try not to engage in that. And because it's just, at the end of the day,
Alex: Yeah, and I think that's where I tell it's been a lot of going back to like, Hey, there you are thinking, thinking, let's go back to your emotional processing. What are you actually feeling right now?
And sometimes people are going to feel helpless or hopeless. So they're going to go through those different feelings. You actually had a litany of feelings that were really useful there. Yeah. But I think to sit there with that feeling and just name it. Is important and notice it and sit with it even physically just be like, ah, here's where I feel it I mean
Dr. Alexis: some of you out there listening might not be as like in tune to your emotions as I am now and have like the courage to be as vulnerable and just[00:10:00]
And that's okay. I've worked very hard to be more comfortable with my emotional
Alex: process. And people's reactions are going to be on like the whole version or spectrum of feeling, right? So I mean, it makes sense. And there's no wrong way to feel about these things. So I think if you're going to say a wrong way to feel something is to then repress it or push it away or do nothing with it or, yeah.
Ignore it or compartmentalize it in a way.
Dr. Alexis: Sorry, that little, that little snout noise was our puppy. It just came up. I think she's recognizing that as I'm talking about how I've been feeling. She's like, Oh, we need some puppy love. Animals are good for this. Yes. So allow yourself to emotionally process.
And this could look different for everybody. In my case, it's a lot of crying and talking it out for others. Like Alex was mentioning. And I jokingly alluded to, is that if recognizing your emotions isn't like your default, focusing on your body would be [00:11:00] a good alternative. So you may not be able to answer how I'm feeling at any given moment.
You may be better able to check in, like, how am I physically doing? What are the physical changes I'm experiencing right now?
Alex: And not to go too far off field, but I always think of, like, depression, right? Depression, 70 percent of depression is actually diagnosed by your primary care physician. The reason why the primary care physician ends up diagnosing most depression is people come in and say, Doc, I have aches, I have pains, I have trouble sleeping.
They have all these somatic problems. symptoms and they don't know what it is, but there's no causality for it. So doctors do due diligence, ask them all sorts of different, both physical questions and the mental health questions if they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. And that's why they end up doing that because people notice the physical stuff more than they've noticed the mental, which makes sense.
And I think that's what I go to when it comes to these things. You're going to notice maybe you're more stiff or you have extra pains or maybe You're realizing that you're a little bit shorter on temper when [00:12:00] you are stuck in traffic or missed a metro or did something, you know, or in
Dr. Alexis: line or trying to order your coffee or something.
Yeah. You have just a lot of less patience, a lot less patience, a lot of grace, a lot of grace. Like, dude, I was so freaking pissed. I wanted to curse this person out on the street and fair enough. So losing a lot of patients. Yeah. And we always want to rule out any kind of medical issues for physical symptoms.
So check in with your medical provider. If you are noticing any kind of physical ailments and then also. So, you know, check in with your mental and emotional health too. Okay, so I talked a bit about my process. How would you, I mean I live with it. So, I have someone an idea and you have an idea of mine, but, but, uh, your turn.
Yeah.
Alex: I'm more, No, no. Publicly self disclosed. Yeah, yeah, no, no, no. I, I, I, like I said, I process a lot during like, post session with my clients. [00:13:00] Things that they say resonate with me and I let that kind of sit with me throughout that. I mean, it's their session. It's not mine. Yeah, but I think the other thing is as And I tell them we they work on their coping strategies.
They come up with some brilliant ideas.
Dr. Alexis: How have you been
Alex: doing? So I'm doing okay. I'm upset. I'm sad, but also I think for me I always go back to education. I know it sounds weird, but my idea is that the more I create spaces and vulnerable conversations regarding education and educating the public, educating people, educating activists, education, I think is my go to when it comes to this, because if I feel helpless or hopeless, Because I'm zero control.
So when I feel that I feel like the more I can educate, the more I can talk up these experiences, the better that's going to be. And so for me, the default is yes, this is the world we live in. Yes. This is the current state of reality. That's disheartening, but honestly, I think part of me says it's no different than it ever has been.
It is just a reflection of what we actually. [00:14:00] I
Dr. Alexis: think that's part of the hard part for a lot of people is election results can be somewhat of a reflection of our current state and realities. And so even though we're walking around, sometimes in our own bubbles, shared values and shared thinking, when we look at that map of the United States and we see how people voted, Um, presumably according to their own values and priorities, I think that's a lot of the harsh reality and hardship that people and heartbreak that people are experiencing and kind of grieving right now.
Alex: And I think for me, a lot of the stuff also I'm hearing is like people reflecting on choices they're making and seeing that the people in their lives that then, you know, Do not hold the same value set.
Dr. Alexis: Yeah.
Alex: That's been very hard for them to reconcile at this point. Yeah. So it's a lot of like, how do I still make space for this person?
And I mean, it's their own journey. It's their own [00:15:00] choice, of course, but like it's them processing that grief too, because a lot of them are saying, I can't align with folks in my life or can't make excuses any longer for these things. Even if it's like fiscal policy over rights or something like that.
Dr. Alexis: Right. I was thinking about this a lot and more in terms of Maslow's hierarchy. Oh,
Alex: nice.
Dr. Alexis: And trying to understand how people are voting and how they're making their decisions. And, you know, when we're looking at this triangle of needs, the concept is that we have all these needs as humans. And you work from the bottom and you work your way up.
So you have your physiological needs, breathing, food, water, shelter, clothing, sleep, all humans need that. You got that. Then you can move on to safety and concierge and security concerns, health, employment, property, family, social ability. You got that. Then you can start paying attention to put energy into love and belonging, friendship, family, intimacy, sense of connection.
After [00:16:00] that, self esteem. Yeah. Confidence, achievement, respect of others, the need to be a unique individual. And then if you got all that kind of figured out, then you could focus on self actualization. Morality, creativity, spontaneity, acceptance, experience, purpose, meaning, and inner potential.
Alex: When you think about this historically, it's not to put anybody in any given category, but people who actually feel good about what they're doing or what they're engaged in, feel like they've built some healthy aspects of themselves.
They're the ones who sit around, and they're the ones who are parentificating a little bit more. They're the ones who are thinking about these. things. If you're scrambling to survive constantly, you're not sitting around and thinking about the meaning of life.
Dr. Alexis: And here's the thing. So when I was thinking about how people were voting, whether it was accurate or not, voting, trying to vote for their physiological needs, food, shelter, A lot of people can't afford that right now.
A lot of people are struggling. [00:17:00] So it would make sense that people are focusing like, Oh, it would be nice to be able to vote according to morality and promoting love and belonging. But dude, I don't even have my physiological needs. And so I'm going to vote for whosoever's pretty much messaging narrative is aligning with supporting my physiological needs, whether accurate or not, that's making a lot of sense to me.
And the interesting part about this is that some people are thinking in those terms, where it's like, I'm struggling to get food and shelter. It's a privilege to vote according to morality. But I'm also seeing the flip side of that, where other people are like, being able to focus on money is a privilege.
I'm trying to maintain My physiological safety needs.
Alex: Yeah.
Dr. Alexis: Based on morality. So I kind of see this triangle based on need Kind of flipped. Well, and
Alex: you [00:18:00] can't
Dr. Alexis: get a different perspective.
Alex: The thing is you can't get to the top of the triangle You're not actually touching on these other aspects of the triangle until you feel well established in the other ones.
You may think you are for example You could join a cult, right? Somebody provides for you these other physiological needs. They make you feel safe and secure. And they engage in things like love and belonging. But because they're done in this out of order sense, somebody stripped you, you know, they move you away from these things.
They pull everything down and they say, Hey, I'm going to do all this for you. I'm going to get you everything you need. This is all you need is me. So then they co op the entire thing, which is why something like a cult works. Yeah, that's how belief works. A lot of those structures work because they're going to keep you safe.
They're gonna keep you fed. They're gonna keep you in this place and their messaging co ops that third layer, which is very vulnerable when people especially are feeling like they're bouncing around between the two because we yearn to connect with others when you're constantly scrambling. At the end of the day, you still want a friend.
You still want somebody to connect with. And I think that's where a lot of times we get compromised. [00:19:00] Because that third layer, that love and belonging to humans. It's what makes us human. It's what divides us from animals. I mean, that emotional layer there. And I think that's what people are doing on these things.
Like, how are they processing this stuff? Who do they, where do they belong and how do they feel? But they're missing out on like, okay, like, what, how do all these things add up? And they're skipping steps. They're not showing all the work in the math problem, and it's not mathing. And I think that's where it's hard for people because they really are struggling with that grief process.
Some of them are realizing different aspects of this that are not going to play out the way they want. I think some people are having trouble doing those things. So even in activism, how do you engage in this thing? And I think we're also learning the whole different layers of activism. People are angry, and they're talking about carrying soup for my family.
And then there's people who are, you know, If you know, you know. Um, and then there's the other people out there who are like, I'm having conversations with my family or whoever else that has been on the fringe of this. I think we have to reconcile different new ways of engaging. [00:20:00] There's been a whole movement in around no longer spending on anything that would actually inspire or engage in aspects of the economy that do not serve the needs of the people that we serve.
The public, right? When it serves private interests, that's where people are starting to like, Oh no, hold on. People making money off me are making more money off me than they ever did. And I'm not getting a cent back. Right. And some people are really pushing for like no spending, zero spending. People are like, use and recycle everything, do whatever you can to no longer spend.
And when you do spend, spend locally.
Dr. Alexis: I'm impressed. It is really
Alex: difficult. There's a lot of like homesteading movement. There's a lot of other movements that say get off the grid. We try
Dr. Alexis: that for a bit. It's hard.
Alex: It is tough. It is tough to be mindful, to build those things on your own, to stay green, if you will, and do those things in that way.
Yeah. But it is, it is hard. independence in a certain way, but that level of spending as advocacy and activism is a really interesting thing.
Dr. Alexis: And I think that's what I'm seeing more this round with activists is getting a little bit more creative. And I'm sure some people [00:21:00] started this a bit ago, getting more creative than the protesting and the rallying.
Alex: Yeah.
Dr. Alexis: We've been there. We've done that.
Alex: Yeah.
Dr. Alexis: And here we are.
Alex: We are present. We've been present for some of the biggest things in history.
Dr. Alexis: I'm kind of feeling that too personally as an activist. I'm not sure where you are, but we
Alex: were
Dr. Alexis: protesting on a weekend, weekly basis for a while there. And there are some benefits to it.
It does serve as a nice. Even emotionally processing, a nice release to just let it all out and scream to the top of your lungs and bang some together and outwardly go against what these issues are. So there are definitely some benefits to doing it. I think at this point, activists are looking for Or more ways to have impact.
Alex: And I think the thing is a lot of times we talk about either you go out in the streets and you make some noise. [00:22:00] Okay, great. There's nothing wrong with that. Can you do that? If that yields something to you, connecting with those people, they're also really important. Meet new people. Go and meet, introduce yourself to people who have amazing signs.
Go and talk to new people. That's my favorite
Dr. Alexis: part, is finding the people with the most creative.
Alex: Sure. Start building friendships. Start building connections. Because in those vulnerable spaces are people who actually have value sets like you. Yeah. So build your support network. Build up these things. I think that's something to really take on.
I think.
Dr. Alexis: I met one of my newest best friends at a protest.
Alex: And I think.
Dr. Alexis: Marissa.
Alex: Amazing. Um, but I think as you continue to expand on that, I think the idea is that you need to find belonging. You need to find love and belonging there. You need to make sure that you're taking care of these things. The other thing is people always talk about donations.
And the thing is, that's really tough for so many people. So many people do not have the ability to donate. So what can you do? And what I think of is don't spend where you can't. Right. If you like think about who you're spending, what you're spending on and who you're supporting. If you
Dr. Alexis: have money, put it toward the cause.
If you don't have money, Put it towards yourself. Don't put [00:23:00] it toward the anti cons. Yes,
Alex: but support.
Dr. Alexis: There's got to be a better mantra for that, but
Alex: support yourself as best as you can.
Dr. Alexis: Yeah.
Alex: And even if you have to support things that may not support your best interest, that may not have been in support of your best interest, businesses or other things that support anti your interest.
Yeah. Being very conscious that is really important and no judgment to you if you have to go do this thing, or if it has to buy a meal at a certain place. Okay, give yourself the grace to go, okay, here's what I'm doing and this is what it's looking like and shape those when you can. I
Dr. Alexis: think a good approach for activists in their mental health practice is to look at it through a wellness lens.
And so if we divide up our life according to our different areas of wellness, you could start exploring different areas of your life where you can make decisions that align with your values. So we talk about like your financial wellness, the financial area of your life. How can you make sure that your financial decisions are aligning with your activism?[00:24:00]
Socially, those support groups, those friends, having tough conversations with family members. What about in your intimate relationships? Talking with your partner, talking this kind of stuff out, figuring out. What you two can do together. You could even think about the creative aspect of your life. What is your creative outlet for activism look like even in your academia?
What do you want to social media? There's a whole lot of new attorneys coming out now. They're like, this is my decision to become an attorney and to understand law and our government better. And even in your employment and your career, does this align with your value? I
Alex: think supporting creators who make content that develops that for you or shows that artists, other people see small things, seek them often, engage with them as you can.
I think that's really great. I think there's other things that something else, as you're talking about, identity [00:25:00] factors that I think of as a man, I hold a lot of privilege and I walk around the world. Pretty much as a white presenting man walking around, and I really do not have most of the worry that most people ever have to engage in.
I mean, you still worry, but you don't have the maybe risk. Sure. And my life is not harder. Being a white man is hard because it's hard, but it's not hard because I'm a white man. Um, I think of. What I can do to signal safety to others, actually. And I think that as, and I saw a couple of different military folk and some other people who are large bearded individuals or other things there that have a stereotype around them, I think in general, and I don't know if anyone's going to mistake me for, you know, That type of person, but I think the thing is, as I'm out in the world, I think I'd like to continue to present as something supportive, an ally, whatever that means.
And if that's a visible sign of something, sure. So this gentleman was wearing like a bracelet or the military guy was wearing a blue patches on his gear and just signaling like, Hey, look, I'm safe. And I'm open [00:26:00] and I'm honest.
Dr. Alexis: And, and I've seen those too, because of white women, social media algorithm that, that comes across my feet.
And then I'm also on, on black femme algorithms. They also are addressing the concern. It's tough because the concern with that is more than anyone could make it.
Alex: Sure. And I get that part too. I'm trying to figure it out. Well, I'm saying this because I still haven't figured it out. I haven't figured out what I want to do in that space.
But there's something, I don't know what I want to do, but I think there's something there about what it looks like to create allyship and make sure that you're obvious about being an ally. Yeah. I think from day one, as a young punk rock kid, I would have patches that were anti Nazi, anti this, anti a lot of anti establishment, but like a lot of other things there.
That were really important to me then and I knew then that this was a really big factor because there was a huge Nazi movement growing up in Los Angeles. If you've ever seen American History X, that's what it looked like. And I think because I saw that and because I hated that so very much, I think that pushed me a lot of activism at like age 12, age 11 and 12.
I was already going, no, no, no, this world is not [00:27:00] for you. Like when it comes to that type of hate, no, we're not doing that. And so for me, I think that's where Those visible signs were like, I still have old jackets that have those things on them. So what does that mean? And I think that's where I go to with it.
So how do I represent that now?
Dr. Alexis: So we have some kind of like symbolism that we can align ourselves with. And then even mannerisms. I see guys talk about when they're hiking and they see a woman hiking by herself, they make space for them or, you know, me, I would walk the dog by myself at night and I'm aware of my surroundings.
And. It's helpful when a shady figure keeps their distance or crosses the street or even gives me space just so that way they are communicating to me. I am not afraid. And I think
Alex: that's stuff that I do already. There's a lot of things I do already, but I think there's another layer that I really want to explore for myself about what I really want to do there.
So I've been thinking about that.
Dr. Alexis: So when you think about your activism and what You align with what your values are, what you want to present, you also think about [00:28:00] it, how you present in the world, and how you act in the world, what are your mannerisms, and what do you want to uphold?
Alex: And I feel like that's just an idea that resonates with me in some way.
I don't know what I want to do with it yet, but it's something to consider, like ways to create safety and create engagement and create vulnerability with others and to make sure that you're living the value set in which you're telling people.
Dr. Alexis: And I think that's the key to the long term mental health aspect of all of this is that a whole lot of us have been flooded with emotions right now.
And we're desperately trying to find some kind of cure for it, some kind of answer. And the long term mental health. Tip to this is that we do not have to have it all figured out right now.
Alex: Yeah.
Dr. Alexis: Even though there may be some urgency to just resolve this stuff. The long term mental health aspect of this is that it is a lifelong practice and ideally You are going to be evolving and tweaking and improving along the [00:29:00] way.
Alex: Yeah, I think it should be intentional instead of reactive. I think the idea is intentionality there. And I think that as you go through these things and you're coping and building up coping skills and engaging. And you're finding community, that you're finding what you need, that you're taking on new creative aspects of yourself to continue to do that, and really building a solid platform of who you are with that value set.
I think it's the only way to really be sustainable when it comes to being an activist, to recover from these things, to really move forward now. I think that it really has to be focused on what is your core, and what does that mean to you, and live that, you know, Live that truth,
Dr. Alexis: regardless of whatever's going on in the world that does not dictate our values and how we present in the world.
That's where empowerment comes from still managing and controlling what we have control over. And that's how we present ourselves in the world and the decisions we're making and all of these various aspects of our life. So we still have some power. Yeah, definitely. Activists, you [00:30:00] still have power. So, awesome job.
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