Power Trip
The Overwhelmed Person’s Guide to Activism
How to fight back when you have very little fight in you
In the two years since Donald Trump was elected president, an upswing in political engagement has been one of the few positive side effects of an increasingly polarized country. According to a Pew survey, 39 percent of the most partisan liberals attended a political event, rally, or protest in the year after the 2016 election; over half contacted an elected official. Overall, more than half of the public — 52 percent — said they were paying more attention to politics since Trump’s election.
But in a world that’s lately felt like a pretty big mess — a new sexual harassment scandal makes news every week, ditto with a natural disaster caused by climate change, and yes, migrant parents are still separated from their children — it’s also hard to not feel paralyzed and exhausted. How, exactly, is one supposed to make a difference when there is so much that needs to be changed? Going to one protest is easy, but what about in our daily lives, when there are also jobs and classes to attend, debts to pay, and children to take care of?
There’s no need to be overwhelmed, and there’s no need to feel like you need to fix everything. Medium talked to a number of organizers — some longtime activists…
