What postpartum taught me about navigating these *unprecedented times*

A revelation about protecting my energy while living in the upside down 🙃

An interesting shift that helped my sanity and will hopefully help yours too. (In addition to, of course, my new favorite activity of crocheting bonnets. 😆)

I had a revelation when I was talking to my therapist, Shannon, last week. I immediately thought, “I have to write a Substack post on this.”

I was grateful for this conversation for MANY reasons, but one of them is that I feel like it can actually help someone out there rather than me just writing more screamy-into-the-voidy content. (🤯)

After all, I’ve been staring at a blank draft for the past week, the only sentence I could muster being, “I’m not going to lie, every subject I can think to write about right now feels incredibly vapid.”

Anyway. Back to the conversation. Like most conversations started out over the past week, month, year since November of 2024, it sounded like this:

Shannon: “How’s it going this week?”

Me: “Oh, ya know. Good actually, except for like the whole, questioning of humanity, existential dread part.”

Eventually, after about 50 minutes, I had been talked down from my proverbial cliff of despair and something we discussed really stood out to me (well, a lot of things, but for the sake of THIS post, we’ll focus on one).

We talked about all the things that were contributing to my feeling like the world was too much and too heavy.

Of course, the answer is “because many things about the world ARE extremely heavy”–but–it somehow also always leads back to one stimulus: social media. (DUH. Tell me something I don’t know.)

“Without a framework, we may be unintentionally choosing chaos.”

Stick with me. I’ll explain…

Here was the lightbulb moment: I have never really considered the act of putting my social media consumption in a container (basically, not just drawing boundaries around it, but creating an organized framework to approach it to lesson my overwhelm).

I thought this was particularly genius.

And yes, of course…I have set screen time limits, I have downloaded the Opal app to kick me off of social media certain times of the day…but I would be lying if I didn’t admit to overriding it A LOT. Especially lately. It’s gotten a little ridiculous. (What’s happened to my self control?!)

Unfortunately, during *gestures largely with both hands* these UNPRECEDENTED TIMES, this is just…not going to cut it.

And to paraphrase her words–without a framework [to approach the anything really, but especially things that are most activating to us] we often unintentionally choose chaos.

Navigating postpartum and living through unprecedented times require similar approaches! (Whaaaaaattttt! 💡)

It got me thinking–wait, this is literally the exact approach I took to planning for postpartum! I have low key made a name for myself on the internet for this concept!! 😂 (My “PrePartum Plan” if you will–it’s one of my most popular Substack posts and something I’ve talked about at length on Instagram over the years. Truthfully, you don't have to be a mother to get something out of the post, I promise!)

This makes so much sense–why did it not occur to me to implement that same approach here? (I can do this!!)

(“Here” meaning–my approach to life as someone who plays an active role in fighting to make this country a better place–(for simpler terms, do we say, “a member of the Resistance? 😆”) yet is a mother, a friend, business owner, a daughter, a wife and a human–who is feeling absolutely fried beyond her capacity by the heaviness of it all?)

What does being an active, engaged human and being a postpartum mother have in common? Turns out, a lot!!!

Let’s see, there’s…

Being bombarded with constant information and raw emotion.

Losing sleep because your brain won’t shut off.

Feeling like everything is urgent and heavy and high-stakes all the time.

Navigating a constant flood of other people’s (very strong) opinions

Needing to fiercely protect your peace.

Leaning on (and into) your community more than ever.

Checking in with your partner about your capacity.

Getting really honest about what you need.

Giving yourself grace on the hard days.

Setting boundaries like your sanity depends on it (because it does).

Learning to hold both the hardest moments and the absolutely beautiful, perfect ones at the same time, and that prioritizing your own joy can quite literally be the difference between a great day and a terrible one.

…to name a few!

When I was pregnant, I treated planning for my postpartum period more seriously than I have approached anything else in my entire life. Because I KNEW it would rock me without the proper framework in place.

I knew sleep deprivation, batshit hormones, heightened emotions, information overload, and navigating a world I was completely unfamiliar with were coming. I knew I’d be stretched in ways I couldn’t know about until I was in it–I knew I’d be more sensitive, more raw, more easily overwhelmed. So instead of just winging it, and waiting to survive it in real time, I created a container for it.

I did a lot of reflecting on the non-negotiables I need to feel like myself. From the tiny everyday things to the big things. I realized my limitations. I planned boundaries. I planned for the support I would need. I planned for how I would prioritize rest, movement, connection, and joy. I planned what I would do to ground myself when things felt like too much.

(And know what? My planning paid off! IT WORKED. And I had a very positive postpartum experience because of it!)

So how can we recreate this same mindset here, today? Where we are right now? How can we protect our energy, joy, and make a difference without feeling so emotionally flooded 24/7?

Let’s create our media hygiene plan together, shall we?

Reflecting on my own “media hygiene plan” or honestly we could just call it “energetic hygiene plan” since you can apply this to well…any are of life!