What a long year January 2025 was.

Even if we expected destabilizing chaos and power grabs out of the gate from this president, actually experiencing the “shock and awe” of these past few weeks has been scary and exhausting. It can easily be overwhelming. That’s in large part the point of it all for these authoritarians. If we are in shock and overwhelm, we freeze. With enough chaos, things will slip through the cracks. The outrageous thing from 7 days ago may not seem “as bad” as the one from today. And thus things start to get normalized.

None of this is normal.

“It doesn’t have to be this way” — Andre Henry

I’ve not been immune to the overwhelm at times, but I have been trying hard to stay grounded in a few things. I want to cultivate a long-term mindset for myself and my community: to help protect each other, meet needs, preserve joy, and do it all in a more sustainable way so we don’t get burnt out. I firmly believe interdependence is a cornerstone of our fight against authoritarianism.

I keep coming back to what Leah said:

“Settler colonialism thrives on fear and separation. And so every time we have faith and every time we lean in for connection, we are resisting this system. So I wanted to remind us this because when we do our resistance in this way, in this generative way, it keeps our bodies safer, our community stronger, and it means we can keep it up for a lifetime.”

(Full quote in my November post)

I will not be finding joy or satisfaction when everyday people who voted for this are eventually hurt by it. I think that plays into the authoritarians’ hands. We everyday people are much closer to each other than we are to these authoritarians and oligarchs.

Some people have caused real harm and I’m not suggesting that should simply be swept under the rug in the name of “unity.” I do want to hold open paths for accountability, growth, and change, though.

I want to continue to lean in to mutual aid networks and learn more. I will finally read Let This Radicalize You which has been on my TBR list for too long... and just read more in general.

I started this post in early February to help me sort through the overwhelming feelings and only now as I’m wrapping it up do I realize it fits in perfectly with this month’s blog carnival topic, Affirmations. I am sure I will have more to write on all this, but February is already half gone and I figured this was a good starting point.