The Second Trump Presidency Is Here. Now What?

By: Abbie Mood

Jan 26, 2025

We’re not even a week into Donald Trump’s second presidency and we’ve seen people (largely government officials) cheering at a billionaire making a Hitler salute (twice!), the rights of Americans being stripped away, ICE raids, a proposal for a third term — but not for the recent presidents who have already served two consecutive terms, mind you — federal agencies like the CDC, FDA, and NIH ordered to pause external communications, drill baby drill, withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, removal of the reproductive rights and Spanish language White House websites, etc. etc. etc.

It’s scary, it’s exhausting, and many people are wondering how we’re going to make it through the next four weeks, much less the next four years.

Stay Informed Without Getting Overwhelmed

It’s important to stay informed, but you will drive yourself crazy if you try to consume all the things all the time. And it’s everywhere: on your phone, on your computer, on your TV, in the papers, as you walk down the street.

It’s nearly impossible to avoid “the news,” which means you have to control what you can:

Set time limits on how much you’re going to actively consume social media
Choose a couple of news sources that you trust to be your source of information
Avoid consuming news at least an hour before you go to bed
If you start to feel overwhelmed, put down your phone, turn off the TV, shut your computer — take a break
Consider how useful the information that you are consuming may or may not be

Take Care of Yourself

What does overwhelm feel like in your body? For me, I can feel my heart rate increase, my face starts to feel hot, and I might feel a knot in my stomach or throat. If it goes on for multiple days or weeks, I don’t sleep as well, I feel like I have a weight on my chest, I get more irritable, I might have digestive issues, and I don’t have any interest or motivation in doing things that I know are good for me (I don’t eat as well, don’t feel like exercising or moving, etc.).

Once you can identify what it feels like when you are “activated,” you can take actions to help. Of course there are traditional stress relievers like taking a walk, meeting up with a friend, and participating in sports or creative activities. I have a few additional ideas for you to try that will help you get out of your head and feel more grounded.

One of my favorites is a simple breathing exercise (bear with me). Inhaling increases your heart rate and exhaling lowers your heart rate, so if you extend your exhale longer than your inhale, you can lower your heart rate and calm your nervous system. A good place to start is just three breaths: inhale through your nose for 4 seconds/a count of 4 then exhale out of your mouth for 6 seconds/a count of 6. It may help if you think of blowing air through a straw. That’s it. You can do it anywhere, anytime. It may help to put one hand on your stomach and one on your chest and consciously try to breathe deeply and expand your stomach more than your chest.

Two more easy practices are the Orienting Practice (from Somatic Counselor/Trauma Specialist/Social Justice Activist/Yogi Hala Kouri) and the 5 Senses Exercise. For the Orienting Practice, move your head slowly from side to side and: notice the colors and textures around you, identify all of the objects in the room that are a particular color, name the objects that you see, or find something really pleasant to look at and really take it in. For the 5 Senses Exercise, notice: 5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste. These activities are helpful to bring you back to the present moment.

Other activities to bring you to the present moment include a body scan or mini-meditation. I’ve posted a few 5- to 10-minute practices on Youtube that you can try.

Even if you don’t practice yoga, there are two poses that just about anyone can do and they will help you feel grounded and calmer: Mountain Pose (Tadasana) or Legs up the Wall (Viparita Karani). To get into Mountain Pose, simply stand with your feet about hip distance apart. Roll your shoulders back and bring your arms to your sides. Gently squeeze your shoulder blades together. Spread your fingers and bounce your knees a couple of times so that you really feel the ground supporting you. Slightly lift your chin, but keep your gaze either straight ahead or a few feet in front of you.

Breathe.

Legs up the Wall is exactly as it sounds: sit with your right side against the wall, bend your knees and then swing your feet up the wall as you lay your back down on the floor. You may have to scoot closer to the wall once you get your legs up. Stay here as long as you want. This pose helps with circulation, relieve tension in your lower back, and relax muscles in your neck, shoulder, and back.

For a longer or more advanced practice (and one that will definitely help you sleep if you do this before bed), consider trying yoga nidra. It doesn’t involve postures like vinyasa yoga. The name means “yogic sleep” and it’s more like a guided meditation. You can find one on my Youtube channel, by my teacher on Insight Timer, or by another yoga teacher that I highly respect on her Youtube channel.

Need to move your body, but don’t have any energy?

Stand up and shake it out or turn on a song and dance. Take a couple of deep breaths and go for it. Shake your hands, arms, shoulders, feet, legs, thighs, hips, waist, head, and your whole body. Have you ever noticed that dogs will shake after a play session or tense interaction? They’re discharging energy, and it works for us, too.

Take Small Actions to Feel Some Control

While rage can be a heck of a motivator for action, if you’re always motivated by rage, you’ll burn out. So once you get yourself grounded and regulated and feel like you have control over your body, you can take small actions to feel like you have some control over the world around you and that you’re making a difference.

Small actions can be:

Sending an email to a politician
Signing a petition
Finding a local organization and attending a meeting
Going through your clothes or other items and choose a few things to donate
Offering your professional skills to help a nonprofit
Posting about a cause you care about on social media
Sharing an article with a family member or friend
Supporting local businesses
Volunteering if you have the time and capacity (connecting with community is one of the best things you can do for yourself and others!)
Boycotting platforms that you don’t want to support
Maintaining and practicing cultural traditions that connect you to your roots
Participating in a community garden
Resting! Go to bed an hour or even a few minutes earlier.

Putting it Together

The constant influx of upsetting news puts us in a perpetual state of fight or flight. If you can stop the cycle by taking breaks and grounding/regulating yourself, that in and of itself is an act of resistance. Getting everyone in a tizzy and fighting with each other is their goal. If you are barely hanging on and just trying to survive, there is no way you’ll ever be effective at organizing, making intentional decisions, or influencing any real change.

The next few years aren’t going to be easy. I’m not going to turn on the toxic positivity and say something like “if we all stick together, we’ll make it!” because the truth is, the more empowered racists, homophobes, transphobes, and misogynists feel, the higher the risk is for those of us on the receiving end of their lies, policies, and actions. But I do wholly believe that taking care of ourselves and coming together in community is an essential foundation for survival.

For example, I live near a school in a mostly Hispanic neighborhood. While our local school system has said they will not let ICE into schools, I looked up a local immigrant rights coalition and put their ICE hotline phone number into my phone just in case I notice any activity in my neighborhood. Hopefully I never have to use it, but I am fully prepared to support my neighbors and it helps me feel like I can take action in a small way.

Above all else, remember to find moments of joy in your life. It’s okay to hold grief and joy at the same time. It’s okay to take a break and just do something fun or something that lights you up.

Don’t let them take that from you. As you’ve likely heard in the past few days, the cruelty is the point. If you don’t have the energy to fight back in any other way, doing something for you is the way to give them the big middle finger.

Hopefully this post has some new information and new ideas that help you as well. I’d love to hear any ways that you’ve been taking care of yourself and small actions that you’re taking to make a difference in your community and in the world.

Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Independent Thought

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?