There's no 'nervous system hack' for Fascism: Here are 6 practical tips so you can stay in the fight
There is no ‘nervous system hack’ for Fascism
(but here’s a bunch of stuff I am doing as a therapist supervisor and mom to stay in the fight).
Not everything can be urgent. If you are everywhere you are nowhere. Look at your feet. Slow down, breathe. Micro moments of safety are how we signal I am safe rn.
Get that phone out of your hand. Take breaks.
Protect Your Predictability
What: Comfort shows. Predictable, feel-good re-watches. No (Limited) phones after 8 PM.
Why: When life feels wildly unpredictable, your brain is starving for predictability. A familiar storyline lowers the “what’s going to happen?” tension and lets your system exhale.
Familiar media reduces cognitive load and “uncertainty stress” because your brain already knows the ending and gets a little dopamine hit when its predictions are right, over and over.
When the world feels chaotic, your brain craves a closed loop. Predictability allows your amygdala to finally stand down.
Look for the Healers: Balance with Dialectical Thinking
What: Wherever I see footage of ICE terrorizing communities, I look for the neighbors, parents, and friends filming, resisting, and walking kids home.
I see bad, I see scary, What else do I see? What else is true right now?
Why: This is called Moral Elevation. Witnessing "the helpers" triggers a biological response that counters Compassion Fatigue. It provides your brain with evidence that while the monster is real, the protector is active, too. Dialectical thinking is nervous‑system protection. When overwhelmed our thinking narrows and becomes very black/white, practicing both/and helps us to expand and hold multiple truths at once. There are horrifying things happening and there are beautiful community building things happening, too
Warmth and Sound: Go where it's warm.
What: Baths, warm drinks, fuzzy socks. Ambient sounds, bilateral beats, or impactful/calming/emotive music.
Why: Warmth is a primitive safety signal, it's the first thing we feel in the womb. Bilateral beats (or rhythmic music) help the two hemispheres of your brain integrate. It’s a "circuit breaker" for the functional freeze. Pair with bilateral tapping, butterfly hugs, deep breaths.
The "Little" Resets: One-Minded.
What: Keep it Small. Micro Moments of right here, right now. Look at little hands. Listen to little voices singing in the car. Playing LEGOs. Sunsets, birds flying
Why: This is Co-Regulation. Continuing to show up as a mom keeps you "open-hearted" when you have a bodily urge to shutdown. Focusing on their smallness pulls your nervous system out of existential dread and back into tactile, immediate safety. Being “one-minded” is focusing on just one thing in this one moment.
Nostalgia as an Anchor: Impermanence
What: Listen to old music that evokes memories/ emotions different than the ones you are currently feeling, expanding your scope of reality beyond this horrifying one.
Why: Nostalgia isn't just a memory; it’s a regulator. It reminds your brain that things are temporary and change. Clinically, this "autobiographical anchoring" connects your current overwhelmed self to the person who has survived every other hard thing before this.
Take Breaks. Take Your Time. Take Care of Each Other.
Co-Regulation Walks – Walk with a friend in silence. Your nervous systems sync. That's medicine.
No-News Dinner – One meal per day where the world isn't the third person at the table. Just people, food, breath, connection.
Micro-Check-ins – Text: "Checking in on your nervous system—no need to reply." My friend and I say “send smoke.” Presence over productivity.
Tiny Mutual Aid – Drop coffee at a neighbor's door. Tangible help kills the helplessness.
Parallel Play – Sit in the same room, join a co-working zoom, do different things, together (reading, knitting, working).
Find the small micro moments of joy: Smile, laugh, share in good news. This is our greatest energy resource rn.
Presence is enough. Presence is everything.