Anxiety, Anger, and Frustration about Putin and Ukraine

ALL of these emotions are normal and healthy. If you haven’t felt any of these emotions about the horrors Ukrainian people are facing, you’re unusual.

On the one hand, it can be helpful to cry when seeing the atrocities, yell at Putin when seen on TV, feel anxious about where we might be headed and about your investments. On the other hand, other than donating or raising money, there isn’t much we can do. So striking a healthy balance means letting the emotion flow , then letting it go, repeat. Whether its war, a pandemic, grief, or another painful issue…Visit It, Don’t Live in It. Of course, if you live in Ukraine, have friends and close family in Ukraine, or similar, you will be living in it much more.

By “Visit it, Don’t Live in It” I’m talking about your emotions. Let yourself cry and get angry. Let it out! But once you have expressed these emotions and feel some relief…move on. Recognize that continuing in it for hours isn’t helping anyone, but know these feelings are bound to emerge again with disturbing media coverage or other triggers. I believe that the more we allow these emotions to flow freely occasionally (i.e. visiting it), the easier it is to disengage from them and not live in it. This does mean limiting the media coverage and time spent talking and thinking about it.

Many people believe they should be “stoic” and misunderstand the true meaning of it. The stoics believed that even painful emotions were to be accepted. They were seen as being neither good nor bad, but part of human existence. There is mounting evidence that anxiety and depression are exacerbated when we try to hold in our healthy feelings, reject our feelings, or are self-critical about them.

If you want to do something you can donate, protest, raise money, or find other ways to support the Ukrainian people.