The Fifth F - Using Recovery Skills to Face Our Political Moment

If you’ve been through eating disorder recovery, you already know what it means to live in a state of survival. You’ve existed in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. You’ve ridden the waves of anxiety, helplessness, rage, and grief. You’ve felt disoriented by change and destabilized by the unknown.  
And now, here we are again.  

With Trump back in the administration (and with something new and destabilizing seeming to happen every day) the country feels shaky, volatile, and unsafe. For many of my clients in recovery, I’ve seen how this is triggering the same patterns we’ve worked so hard to untangle. The body remembers. The nervous system tightens. The old behaviors tempt us to fall back into old, unhelpful patterns of numbness, disconnection, and giving in.  

But there’s another F we’ve learned through recovery: Face.  

In recovery, we learned to face the truth: things had to change. We had to change. We had to stop pretending we were fine and look directly at what was going on inside us, no matter how painful or overwhelming it was.  

And now, once again, it’s time to face what’s happening in our country.  

It’s tempting to shut down. To despair. To dissociate. To hide.  

But you’ve been here before. You’ve done the impossible. You’ve sat with emotions that felt unmanageable. You’ve tolerated discomfort. You’ve made space for uncertainty. You’ve faced what scared you most, and came out stronger on the other side.  

This is not just about politics. It’s about survival, identity, safety, and truth. And if you’ve navigated recovery, you already have the tools to respond to this moment with clarity, integrity, and care.  
When the world feels like a trigger  

Let’s name it: This moment feels destabilizing. There’s a lack of security. A fog of uncertainty. It’s hard to trust the future. That is deeply familiar territory for those in recovery. It can mimic the internal chaos felt when you first tried to let go of disordered behaviors.  
And just like in recovery, there may be no immediate resolution. No single action that “fixes” the fear. But you don’t need to have all the answers right now, your job is to stay with yourself through it and do what you need to stay connected, well and safe.   

This isn’t about bypassing your feelings or pretending everything’s fine. It’s about learning to feel without letting things take over. Remember it’s okay to feel all the emotions, whether that’s all at once or in stages. You are allowed to be angry, you are allowed to cry, you are allowed to feel a spectrum of emotions all at once. Maybe you’ll feel numb, maybe you’ll be paralysed with overwhelm. It’s all okay, and it’s all manageable. What matters here is meeting those emotions with compassion – no judgement or expectations, simply making space for yourself and honoring how you feel.   
So, what now?  
If we’re being honest, honoring your emotions is one piece of the puzzle, but it can feel difficult to stay level-headed when things are changing rapidly, and what feels like out of your control, around you.   
So, if the world feels overwhelming right now, here’s what I’d like you to do:  

1. Create and engage with community. Isolation is where ED behaviors and political despair both thrive. Reach out to friends, connect with new people, join spaces (in person or virtual) to share your concerns and listen to others. Supportive, open conversations can help you see you’re not alone in this, and there is always someone there to talk to.
   
   
2. ​Take time to process. Journal, meditate, walk, cry, reflect. Whatever it is you need to do to feel what this moment brings up, do it. Think about the emotional regulation tools you have built through recovery (e.g. breathwork, grounding, mindfulness) to stay present.  
   
   
3. Be intentional about media consumption. Stay informed, yes, but protect your mind and sanity too. Unfollow accounts that aren’t making you feel good, take a break if you find yourself falling into a pit of despair, and curate your feed so that you feel empowered rather than overwhelmed.  
   
   
4. ​Use your voice. Whether it’s in voting, protesting, creating, educating, or simply standing up for what’s right in your day-to-day life, your voice matters. The more we speak about these issues, the more we can connect with others and create lasting change. We are stronger together!   
   
   
5. ​Return to your recovery values. What helped you get through then? Did you implement boundaries, with yourself and others, to maintain true to your recovery? How did you bring courage and compassion when moments felt hard? Lean into all the behaviors you used before to help you survive now.   
   
   
6. Rest. This fight isn’t a sprint, it’s a long, difficult journey. You’re allowed to step back and recharge. You can’t pour from an empty cup, and sometimes the best way to advocate is to take a step back, check in with how you are feeling and take the time that you need. Rest is not retreat; it’s resistance.  
   

Closing Thoughts   
Living through this political era is not easy, especially for those of us who have already fought so hard just to stay alive and present in our own lives.  

But you are not powerless here. The strength you built in recovery didn’t disappear, it’s right there, inside you, waiting to be used again.  
The work of facing doesn’t rely on knowing an outcome or that things will turn out “okay” - it is instead a very radical act – one grounded in choosing to show up regardless of the outcome. An act that is inherently hopeful and courageous.   
Face what is happening. Feel what is real. And then ask yourself: What do I want to do with this?  
Because you’ve done hard things before. You can do this too.