Hope Within The Chaos: Staying Positive in Times of Political Unrest

By Kerryann White

Lately, the world has felt heavy. Politically and socially, things have certainly been tense and unsteady and it’s often felt as though we are holding our breath, waiting for yet another unsettling headline to come along. It’s very easy to let that feeling build and become weighty in your chest, since we are constantly bombarded with breaking news, global crises, and pain and hate infiltrating our society. While social media can often be empowering in these scenarios, the line can blur between being informed and aware and being emotionally flooded. It becomes harder and harder to look away or retain the ability to make sense of what is happening in today’s world. The question with this is: how do you remain hopeful when everything feels incredibly disheartening? 

The emotional toll of it all can be quietly yet deeply draining. Some of us may even find ourselves feeling a different kind of burnout (not the academic weariness that we are all too familiar with during deadline season) but a sort of moral fatigue. Burnout is typically understood as “a form of exhaustion caused by constantly feeling swamped” [1], and this specific feeling that I’m referring to plays with your character, wearing you down emotionally as you find yourself caught between the empathy for those suffering and the helplessness of not knowing how to help. The weight of witnessing so much injustice and political failure, with little power to intervene, is deflating. That kind of burnout doesn’t make you tired – it makes you feel powerless, leaving behind so much guilt for switching off, for resting or not having the capacity to do more. Sometimes we tell ourselves that our voices are far too small to make a difference, it couldn’t possibly matter because of the scale of the issues at hand. 

And yet it’s in these moments, when the world feels loud and unfixable, that hope becomes most radical. I don’t mean using hope as blind optimism or delusion, but as an act of defiance. To believe that your voice matters is crucial in these times – not because you think it will change everything, but because taking part in spreading awareness and voicing your opinions is a refusal to give up and turn your back on what is important. There is so much power in speaking up and staying in the game because disengagement only serves those in power who would prefer people to stay silent and feel hopeless to their actions. Spreading awareness, asking difficult questions, attending protests if you are able and remaining optimistic are acts of resistance in themselves. In fact, they are also essential to keeping the democratic values we cherish alive. We all have a right, and to some degree a responsibility, to hold political leaders accountable if things are wrong, and to demand justice. Holding leaders accountable doesn’t necessarily relate to standing at the gates of Parliament demanding change, but it also lies in voting, educating yourself and others, engaging in difficult conversations, and caring loudly about certain matters. Hope won’t always feel light or easy, but it is in this effort of continuing to show up that makes the most difference. 

Too often, students and young people get a bad rep or a negative perception of being too idealistic. The tired label of ‘snowflake’ tends to get thrown around, belittling a generation of compassionate young people into fragile, almost infant-like caricatures who lack any resilience and are incapable of hearing ‘no.’  [2] This is highly ironic given the history of incredibly transformative and effective movements having students and young people at the heart of them, persisting in their push for civil rights and reshaping oppressive systems. Queen’s University itself has long been a site of political energy and activism, with endless opportunities to find a corner of the university that can accommodate your hunger to take part in political advocacy. Students are consistently encouraged to get involved and drive change locally and globally. 

Here in Belfast, it is not just the weather that can turn on us in the blink of an eye, the politics can too. For a city that is no stranger to conflict and friction, the spirit of engagement is vital to the resolution of hardships and getting us one step closer to the light. Holding onto that part of ourselves that resists and feels hopeful absolutely matters, and idealism isn’t something that you should attempt to grow out of. Empathy is power and you mustn’t let anyone tell you that you are being “soft”, you’re a part of the process that keeps political systems from going stagnant, allowing progress to remain alive and constantly evolving. 

Bibliography 

[1] WebMD Editorial Contributors. “Burnout: Symptoms and Signs.” WebMD. Last reviewed March 19, 2023. https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/burnout-symptoms-signs.

[2] Gallagher, Sophie, “What Does the Term Snowflake Mean and Why Is It Used?” The Independent, October 6 2020 https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/snowflake-meaning-definition-gammon-piers-morgan-trump-b737499.html