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Licensed psychologist Dr. Jen McWaters, and wellness coach Kaitlin Reed, join forces to help women create an abundant life through holistic wellness practices, mindset shifts, and fostering a healthy relationship with food and their bodies. Join us as we take a deep dive and uncover the raw truth about mental health, nutrition, fitness, and beyond, offering insights and strategies for transformative growth.
Dr. Jen McWaters is a licensed psychologist and a holistic wellness coach for women. She is a Certified Integrative Mental Health Professional and is passionate about helping high-achieving women overcome their mental blocks, find freedom from anxiety, and create an abundant life inside and out. Find out more about her work at: awakeningholistichealth.com
Kaitlin Reed is a fitness, nutrition, and mental wellness coach on a mission to help women build the body and life they deserve and desire. She has BAs in Health Promotion and Wellness & Fitness Management, MA in Performance Psychology, currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Health Psychology. Her goal is to help women finally understand the science and strategy of nutrition and exercise so they can achieve their goals and live an empowered life. Head over to kaitlinreedwellness.com to learn more.
DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult with your personal physician if you have any personal medical questions.
Welcome to the Counter Culture Health podcast. I'm doctor Jen McWaters. And I'm coach Kaitlin Reed. We're here to help high achieving women overcome mental blocks, find freedom from anxiety, create an abundant life, and build the body and life that they deserve and desire. In this weekly podcast, we'll uncover the raw truth about mental health, nutrition, fitness, and beyond. Let's get to it.
Kaitlin:Happy Thursday, friends. Welcome back, and thanks for joining us for another week. Today, we are going to touch on the election and some politics as the election is quickly approaching. We thought that this, would be a good and appropriate time to talk about election anxiety, how it, is real, yeah, how it impacts people's mental health and their well-being, and then, of course, provide you guys with tools and ways to stay grounded during that time and, hopefully, not allow it to send you into a a spiral.
Jen:Yeah. So very timely, and we wanted to do this because this episode will probably release right before voting day in November. So and the reason I wanna bring this up is that this is a very real thing. So it it might be tempting to pooh pooh it, but it really is an issue for a lot of people. And, naturally, it's it's kinda crazy times. This year has been wild as far as news and just events, national disasters, political news, attempted assassinations. Like, you you know, you name it, we've had it this year.
Jen:So it is totally reasonable if you are having increased anxiety as November approaches, especially with the roar of the media behind us, both TV and social. And, you know, historically, previous elections, which I well, I guess depending on where you are on the spectrum, you know, some elections are harder for some versus others. But, like, people have legitimate come into therapy after an election because of their preferred candidate losing, for example, having intense emotions around that after an election because their preferred candidate lost. So people get very emotionally invested in this process. And, again, I don't wanna diminish that I think politics are important to get involved in.
Jen:I think you should definitely go out and vote, and you think you should make your voice heard and vote in every way that you can and vote in the direction of your values. But we also don't wanna get so wrapped up that we lose ourselves in this and, I think, lose groundedness in what is most important. So that's why we are talking about this today.
Kaitlin:Yeah. Great topic. I think it'd be so helpful also, maybe bring in a new perspective, on on how to navigate this time. Yeah. So let's talk about what that might look like.
Kaitlin:So how do you know
Jen:you might have the election anxiety? And this is not like a clinical term, so it's a term I just made up here, but, I think speaks to just, like, this general sense people have of maybe dread with the election approaching, worry, rumination, maybe trouble sleeping even, maybe that's feels like it's all you think about, and those might be signs you have some anxiety around the election. So why is that not a good thing? Well, just like anxiety in general, this means that you are compromising your physical health. You're having increased cortisol levels in your body.
Jen:You have just increase in stress hormones in general. You might be sacrificing your sleep. And in general, you're probably less present. I think that's the big thing for people. Like, they're less present.
Jen:They're so focused on social media or the news and so wrapped up in that and what's happening in the narrative that they aren't present in their life, and they're missing out on those things. And so that's where, like, mindfulness comes in. So in therapy and coaching, we talk a lot about mindfulness, and mindfulness is just paying attention to the present moment on purpose. And the beauty of that is that when you are present, you're kind of free from past things that are more depression laden, and you're free from future things, which are more worry laden. You can just be in the space.
Jen:So if you notice yourself getting pulled into future worry or into past experiences, practicing being present in the moment is a great thing to do and a skill to learn. So that would be, you know, one thing to consider is, like, are you getting pulled into the future a lot? And if so, coming back to the present moment and being grounded in what's real and what's around you is a great antidote to that.
Kaitlin:How much of it do you think is, like, like an add addiction property, like being addicted to this stress and, like, kinda chaos that is happening right now.
Jen:There could definitely be an aspect of that. I I definitely think there's, like, a FOMO aspect with like, you know, I think people know to some degree that checking the news isn't helpful, like always checking the news or but there's a sense of, like, I'm gonna miss out. Like, not in a like, I'm gonna miss out on a good thing, but I'm gonna miss out on something really important. Like, they wanna be in the know, and I get that. Right?
Jen:Like, we do wanna be in the know to some degree, but we are so inundated with news and information and doomsday stuff that it is really heavy. I don't think we're really meant to hold and process all of that at the same time. Right? Like, if I open up my Instagram, like, I just I'm inundated with bad news mostly because bad news sells, and it's provocative and it's interesting. So we do need to keep that in mind, right, that, like, there's people out there that very much care about what's going on in our country, and so I'm glad that they're posting how they feel about it.
Jen:But, also, like, people post about intense things, often negative things, clickbait things. So keep that in mind. And then to your point, I think it can become kind of addictive, at least habitual, to just, like, seek out the news every day and doomscroll. You know, that's a thing that people, talk about now. So it definitely could have that aspect to it.
Kaitlin:Yeah. And or, like, even being addicted to the debates and the arguments and interactions and conversations with other people around, beliefs and views and and all of that. I think a lot I've seen, especially on Facebook too, where you can comment and, you know, have those threads in conversations. It's like people, just get so hooked on that or, like, the need to prove their points or their beliefs or their, you know, point of view, and it can kind of be like this addiction to stress and chaos sort of thing too.
Jen:That's true. And people feel safe to do that because it's kind of anonymous when you're online like that. So it's like this kind of pseudo safe way to be opinionated and speak up or kind of virtually bat someone on the head and you know?
Kaitlin:All the things you would say, or not say to someone's face.
Jen:Yes. Yeah. So stay out of the comments because, I've definitely fallen into that trap too. It's like, oh my goodness. Like, stay out of the comments.
Kaitlin:Yes. Yeah. It's kinda wild. How much, also is do you think, like, control issues? You know, trying to control something that really is out of your control.
Jen:For sure. And, again, then that's it's hard because it's it's this gray zone. Like, again, I think people should go out and vote. I think do what you can to influence, but also recognizing that we, I think, have actually very little control and need to surrender that. And this also goes with this this maybe overly depending and hoping that a certain candidate will save you or save us or save the country.
Jen:No matter what, you know, side, quote, unquote, you are on, I think that we get into this really binary way of thinking of, like, this is good, this is bad. And, you know, as a person of faith, I'd say, like, I put my faith in something higher and bigger than that. I don't expect a person to save me or government to save me or even really protect me. I mean, that would be nice. But I think at this point, we kinda have seen enough to know that it's a very broken system.
Jen:It's I'm glad we have its. I'm glad we have something, and I'm glad there are rules and laws and some levels of protection. But people, I think, over rely on that and put their hope in that and their faith in that and their trust in that, which then would make sense why when your preferred person or party loses, you are just crushed, and you're devastated. And that is a roller coaster way to live because even if your preferred person wins, you'll deal with this whole roller coaster again in another 4 years. Right?
Kaitlin:Yeah. That
Jen:and that's a lot.
Kaitlin:Yeah. We kind of had that conversation before popping on here of how much maybe a lack of faith, plays in this as well.
Jen:Yeah. I mean, I would argue as humans, we and this is more philosophical, so this is just Jen speaking from my opinions, you know, just so take that with a grain of salt. But I just really believe that we love, a, to try to be in control, and humans are just kinda wired to idolize things. So whether that is celebrities or money or politics or politician or party, like, we idolize. We just tend to lean in that direction, and that goes back in our history as as humans way back when.
Jen:And so the same can go. So even if you aren't a person of faith, so maybe you're not worshiping God, I'd argue that someone we're all worshiping something. So even if you don't ascribe it a certain faith or an atheist, you probably have something else that is like your god, quote unquote, was little g. And for some people, that's politics. Right?
Jen:And that means it's the thing you are putting your hope in, the thing that you are worshiping, the thing that you are worshiping, the thing that you are idolizing. So just something to reflect on, you know, because we all have idols in our life. Even if we are Christian, we have other idols we have to work on taking down. And, and if you're not of a person of faith, just still think about that. Like, are you putting your hope in something that can't actually save you?
Jen:Good for thought.
Kaitlin:So what are some things that people can do to try to stay grounded or, navigate this time, leading up to and then post election depending on, you know, whatever happens?
Jen:Yeah. I always say first thing is focus on what you have control over. The things you have control over is like that small little circle where it's like you, your thoughts, your feelings, your behaviors, your reactions to things. That's all you. So focus on that because everything outside of that circle, you have no control over.
Kaitlin:Yeah.
Jen:So, again, hence why I like vote. That's an action you can take. Do the vote. If you wanna be an advocate, go do that. If you wanna petition, whatever, do that.
Jen:Do what's in your control, then you have to work on psychologically surrendering what's outside of that, which is the eventual outcome. Right? And so just that process of, like, okay, what isn't actually my control? And you can control your reaction. You can control your reaction to the outcome, whether it is in your favor or not in your favor.
Jen:I believe we still have a responsibility to respond mindfully and be respectful to other people and love other people and, again, not assume that that thing's going to save us anyway, which also helps with the reaction. Because if I don't put my whole faith and trust in so and so politician winning, my reaction is very different than if I do. Right? I'm like, okay. Well, that's maybe I'm bummed.
Jen:Maybe I'm frustrated, but I acknowledge that, like, that's not where my hope is, and I don't have control over that. So focusing in on my circle of influence and where I can make the most impact, that would be step number 1.
Kaitlin:Yeah. Love that. I know this is something that I struggle with is, I I don't watch the news. So there's a lot of times I feel I mean, it's very helpful because you're not like, all this stuff is not flooding my mind and, you know, stress and getting caught up in it too, but then it's like, sometimes I'm not informed of a lot of things. So it's kind of this this balance of still being informed and knowing what's going on, but not, you know, allowing it to consume me, and that's, you know, what's always coming in all the time.
Kaitlin:So do you do you think, you know, not watching as much news and, you know, that's not what's coming across your social media all the time? How do you feel about that? Yeah.
Jen:I agree. And, and news comes in lots of forms to your point. So, like, I don't really watch the news on TV, but I definitely have social media, and that's the way the news comes to me. And most folks, I think in our generation and younger, that's where their news is coming from is social media not coming from cable news Yeah. What have you.
Jen:So, yes. So just knowing that, again, news, especially traditional mainstream media, is very sensational and sensationalism driven, and it's all about making money and having viewers' eyeballs. So just know that. Right? So you can disconnect from that first and, not get emotionally involved.
Jen:But, 2, I think setting the limit. And whatever that limit is for you, that's for you to decide. So for some people, they might have so much anxiety that they need to completely just, like, not watch the news, or maybe they give themselves one time a day, 5 minutes a day that they can check just to be like, at least I'm informed. You know? Like, there's no disaster coming my way at least in the next 6 hours.
Jen:So, you know, just I'd be thinking that's reasonable. Some people might be able to tolerate 30 minutes a day. I would suggest everyone put some sort of limit because, again, I think right now it's so heated and so divisive and so emotional that most of us are probably not gonna benefit if we are on there for too long. It's gonna cause harm, I should say, to most of us. So definitely putting some sort of guardrails around that, And, I think our social media conversation last time would be a good place to look at for that.
Jen:If you want some tips, there's some cool things you can do with your phone to set limits on app usage. So, like, if you always get your news to Instagram, there's ways to set limits on the app so that it'll alert you if you are exceeding that time. So, you know, just gauge how you're feeling. Like, your body will tell you, your mind will tell you if you are feeling overwhelmed, anxious, worried, can't sleep, feel like you keep wanting to check, check, check the news compulsively. That might be a sign that you need to scale back and set some boundaries around your usage really for your own well-being.
Kaitlin:Yeah. Yeah. And also my little tip on fitness and nutrition in there, like, exercise is a great way to, you know, disconnect from the news and things that are going on and, you know, taking care of yourself and, destressing, decompressing, helping out with get that anxious energy out. Like, we can't internalize that and store it. It'll just build up and get worse.
Kaitlin:So having a physical activity to kind of exert that anxious energy is so helpful too. And then, of course, nutrition. You know, with the healthier we are, the better we are able to navigate and cope and manage with stressful situations. So, you know, just another reason to we're we're just more capable, to tolerate stress when we're healthier. So just another good reason to be working out and eating well and, just taking care of yourself.
Jen:I agree. And I use the word resilience with my clients, and that's what that is. When you work out and eat well and sleep well and have good social connections, you are more resilient to stressors. So your response is naturally gonna be more tempered and, I think, more reasonable and logical than it would be if you are sleep deprived, not eating well, haven't left the screen in, you know, 12 hours. Like, you're gonna be more reactive emotionally.
Jen:So if that's not what you wanna be, then work on your resilience is definitely the way to go. And that's what's in your control to change and do.
Kaitlin:Yeah. Yes. Love that tip. Yeah. Any other suggestions or things you wanted to add to that conversation?
Jen:Those are the main things. You know? But I think in just reflecting for yourself, like, if you are feeling really activated, ask yourself why. Mhmm. That's not how you wanna be.
Jen:Think about what you wanna change and work on. And I just, again, would offer that if you were feeling really wrapped up in it, then, maybe be helpful to focus on some other things, make your life is full of other good things so there's balance, and that you can find your joy in other things outside from politics and outcomes and divisive conversation and all those things. It can be interesting. I mean, I think I'll have the curiosity to, like, look at those things and watch it, but just be mindful of how that could be a detriment to your health and make sure you have life full of really wonderful, lovely, joyful things to focus your energy on. I think that's gonna take you closer to where you wanna be in the long run.
Kaitlin:Absolutely. And take care of yourself so you can be more resilient during this stressful time.
Jen:Yeah. Exactly.
Kaitlin:Great conversation. Thanks for joining us again, this week, and we'll see you next week.
Jen:Thanks for joining us on the Counter Culture Health podcast. To support this show, please rate, review, and share with your friends and family. If you wanna be reminded of new episodes, click the subscribe button on your preferred podcast player. You can find me, Jen, at awaken.holistic.healthand@awakeningholistichealth.com.
Kaitlin:And me, caitlin@caitlinreed wellness and caitlinreed wellness dot com. The content of the show is for educational and informational purposes only. As always, talk to your doctor and health team. See you next time.