Navigating Election Season and Political Conversations

As the election season approaches, stress can creep into your mind and difficult conversations with friends and family members often bubble up to the surface.

Conversations with people who think and believe differently than you can seem inevitable. Knowing how to navigate these conversations is important in maintaining relationships and keeping your stress levels low.

Read the News Instead of Watching It

Social media feeds, TV broadcasts, and conversations with others often overflow with political news and opinions during election season. Sometimes it can feel like it’s all anyone is talking about.

While you can’t necessarily avoid the news entirely, Jackie Van Zile, a licensed professional clinical counselor (LPCC-S) with ProMedica Physicians Behavioral Health – Sylvania, recommends avoiding, limiting, and restricting where you can.

“Just watching the news can be shocking and dysregulating,” Van Zile shares. “And visual stimulation can stick with you. Instead of turning on the TV or scrolling social media for your news, try reading about it.”

Reading the news rather than watching it gives you more freedom to decide when you want to be exposed to the news instead of being constantly bombarded by it. Set aside an amount of time that you feel comfortable with to get caught up on the news – that might look like 10 minutes a day, 30 minutes a week, or even less.

Prepare Yourself for Difficult Conversations

If you’re not taking the appropriate time for yourself during this season, you won’t be able to put your best foot forward. So, prioritize rest, nutritious food, exercise, and any other ways you can care for yourself by doing things you enjoy.

Not everything has to be about the election or politics. Take breaks from the news and these types of conversations often, especially when you notice that your thoughts are being consumed by it all.

Talking with others with similar views or getting involved in a community advocacy group can be great ways to feel connected and form more opinions about your position.

Educating yourself on the opposing viewpoint is also valuable. “Not everything is as you see or hear. It’s easy to think your viewpoint is the only right one – but often, this isn’t the case,” Van Zile shares.

Having Conversations About Politics

“Everyone is different. Regardless of your political affiliation, not everyone will have the same opinion as you,” shares Van Zile.

When it comes time for a political conversation, follow these steps to help your conversation be more productive and less emotionally charged.

Seek to learn from the conversation.

While you may hope every conversation will go as planned, they likely won’t. It’s important to enter every conversation without expectations and a willingness to learn or gain an understanding from the other individual, rather than convince them of your view.

“You’ll never be able to change the mind of someone who doesn’t want to change,” Van Zile stresses. “You’re better off approaching every conversation from the perspective of learning more about their view. Remember that choosing to learn more about and acknowledge their viewpoint doesn’t mean that you agree.”

Manage your emotions.

While you don’t have the power to manage the other person’s opinions or emotions, you do have the power to manage yours.

“These conversations can be stressful, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad,” Van Zile shares. Take deep breaths. Don’t make the conversation personal or turn it into an emotional debate if you can help it. If you feel yourself getting too emotional about the topic, remember it’s OK to remove yourself from the conversation.

Allow the other person to feel heard.

Even if you don’t agree, it’s important to allow the other person to feel heard rather than overpowering them with your viewpoint. Try statements such as, “I can see you feel strongly about…” or “I see that this matters to you…”. These types of statements will show that you are listening, without necessarily saying that you agree.

De-escalate if needed and end with respect.

Focus on where you agree in order to de-escalate a conversation when needed. “It doesn’t have to be all or nothing,” Van Zile shares. There are likely aspects of the topic you can find common ground on.

When it comes time to end the conversation, be respectful. “Thank them for their time and attempt to gauge how they thought the conversation went,” Van Zile shares. “Ask them if there is anything they would like to change about how you handle it if you disagree in the future. Or if they would prefer to avoid conversations on the topic in the future.”

Then, change the conversation to something humorous or of mutual interest. It’s OK to agree to disagree!

Give yourself credit.

Having conversations about political topics can be tough. Give yourself credit for choosing to have these important conversations!

Also, remember that it’s OK to avoid political conversations with certain people. “Avoid conversations if your position is to persuade rather than discuss, or if you can tell the individual is trying to get an emotional response from you or has no interest in having a meaningful conversation,” Van Zile recommends.

Don’t attribute or assume.

Lastly, it’s easy to see similarities to past situations or conversations. Don’t assume that you know how a situation or conversation will go based on something that happened in the past. “It’s a different time. Even if there are similarities, it doesn’t mean it’s the same now,” Van Zile shares.

Try to enter situations and conversations with a fresh perspective.