Opinion: How to Stay Mindful in the Face of Fascism

Our country may be on the precipice of authoritarianism ... but that doesn't mean it has to come at the cost of your personal peace. Here are my suggestions as a certified life coach to maintain your personal mental health and well-being while your queer, trans, BIPOC, and non-Christian neighbors consider fleeing the state, if not the country.

1) Take a retreat. The world is a crazy place right now, with all the mass shootings, global warming, and mounting Christian nationalism. So get out of town for a while, head to the mountains. Better yet, head to a state where your LGBTQ+ friends and neighbors might be safe, if only they had the money to escape. But take a load off, breathe in the liberal air, and take some Instagram photos of you ignoring the world's woes while you're there.

2) Good vibes only. Keep your head clear and your vibes high. Don't attract negative things to you by thinking negatively. While other people might be in the trenches fighting to maintain their freedoms, don't let their negativity bring you down.

3) Don't let anything disrupt your spiritual practice. Meditate, write in your journal, make a gratitude list, eat your crystals, and manifest the future you deserve. Authoritarianism can wait. Your well-being can't.

4) Savor the small things. No need to be an alarmist or Debbie Downer when you meet your friends for $18 salads. Certainly don't bring up book banning, rising antisemitism, or the fact that drag performances across the country are being disrupted by neo-Nazis. Savor the salad. Don't let a moment's pleasure go to waste.

5) Get your rest. When late at night you can't sleep, and there's a nagging sense that something is deeply wrong, take a gummy and wash it down with some kombucha. There might be a bill proposed to allow Texas citizens to bounty-hunt drag performers and trans people, but nobody's knocking on your door. Nobody is coming after you yet, so don't worry. Get your rest because there is certainly nothing you can do with your eyes closed.

6) Feel the fear, and do nothing. When you see bills being passed into law that threaten the very existence of those two trans kids at your kid's school, or you see the democratically elected school board of Houston ISD be replaced by state officials, clear your head and shake it off. It's not your problem.

Because really, this is all a simulation and karma corrects everything anyway, right? Perhaps there is no need for you to worry or do anything personally. Because we all know how history books remember those who watched while fascism unfolded (if the Texas Republican Party has anything to say about it): fondly and with reverence.

Aubree Brown is a native Austinite, writer, and certified life coach. She spends her free time caught between fight or flight, and taunting complacent liberals and spiritualists into political action.