How to self-care when politics gets you down?
The Innovation in Politics Institute
We help to improve #democracy by enabling best practice exchange across borders and party lines. #PoliticsAwards
Political challenges and controversy can get the best of us. That’s why it’s so important not only to filter and limit our exposure to information but to also watch out for political news and topics of positive impact. Here’s how our team manages political stress and brings good politics in the limelight:
1.We are careful of what we share.?
There is a lot of false information about political conflict and political challenges spreading online, which is commonly referred to as misinformation and disinformation. You can help to curb the spread by doing the following:?
2. We limit screen time
Research has made us well aware that reducing screen time frees up more time to connect with what’s meaningful and to unpack feelings of unease surrounding difficult topics. Similarly to carefully choosing our sources and references on what we read, limiting screen time helps us feed the connection with others, including at work, and can help ward off symptoms of distress. We often miss out on the good things happening all around us because of too much screen time, and by being present and in the moment we know that we will be more focussed, calm and engaged in what’s meaningful.?
3. We seek best political practices that make a positive difference
And, frankly, that’s the best part of our work together. Scouting, supporting and sharing outstanding political work with our community enables us to focus on the bigger picture and to recognise that great efforts are being made to make society a better place.
This week, we’ve handpicked three winners of the Innovation in Politics Awards that you need to know about and showcased them in our new TikTok campaign.?
IRELAND: See Her Elected
25% of elected local authority councillors in Ireland were women (May, 2021). See Her Elected (SHE) is a feminist, community-led, rural initiative to increase the numbers of women in local politics in the rural Northwest-Midlands.They launched an innovative SHESchool with free online politics classes and produced Ireland’s first Guidebook to Running in the Local Elections. Already, six women have decded to stand for election in the 2024 local authority elections
FINLAND: Local Solutions to Global Challenges
To combat the affects of climate change in northern Finland, the town of li had a shared will to do something, they started to find local actions to cut climate emissions. This included converting the public buildings to renewable energy sources and investing in renewable sources - the town is now producing ten times more energy than it is using and has even been able to cut taxes due to the successful climate actions.??
So far, carbon emissions have been cut by 60% and people want to show that if li can do it, Europe can too!?
North-eastern Estonia is less developed with fewer local opportunities due to the legacy of the Soviet Union and generally, young people leave to study elsewhere. kood/J?hvi was launched as a new kind of coding school based on self- learning methods and open to everyone which addresses the current large-scale shortage of IT specialists. All students are offered free accommodation, and there are no tuition fees, meaning that anyone can apply.The goal is that the students will be able to access well-paid job opportunities in the field after graduating, giving young people a new kind of career path.
With our TikTok campaign and our quirky colleague, Brian Sock, we are identifying the best practices in Europe and asking prominent people around the world if they can be implemented in their areas too.?
Democracy is under attack, and that’s why it’s so important to fight back , to acknowledge, learn from and replicate these best practices.?
How do you self-care when politics gets you down?
Tell us in the comments below!