What You Can Do When You Don’t Know What to Do

Politics. There. I said it. Let’s get it over with. This post will discuss politics. Sorta.

In 2016, I remember waking up the day after election day feeling totally defeated, lost, and sad about the unknown. The next four years would prove to be very stressful for me as I watched terrible, consuming news every, single, day. I felt helpless. I felt depressed. I felt sad. I felt angry. I watched a country that I love, sink slowly away. I did my part by voting. Past that, I wasn’t sure what I could do. So I just wallowed in my sadness.

Now in 2025, facing the same fate, I felt more hopeful this time. Knowing that we know what the incumbent candidate was like, people surely would see the light. This wasn’t a race between red and blue, or R or D. This was so much more. Again, the day after the election, I woke up feeling totally defeated, lost, and sad. I literally felt heartbroken. I wallowed for a bit, I raged for a bit. But I knew I couldn’t spend another 4 years, feeling like I felt then. So this time, I chose to DO something. I chose to seek any path I could to actually make real change in my community. It was such a big, insurmountable task, but I was willing to take a step. Even if it felt small.

I could honestly say that I really didn’t know a ton about politics. Who ran what, how things worked, the names of the people who make our laws. I started by getting curious. And reading. Everything. I started by listening to a zoom call put on by an organization called Indivisible. It wasn’t always easy, but with practice, I have learned. Sometimes it’s just a step. Any step, in any direction. Just do something.

I’ve been participating in activism now for 8 months. And I will share with you the things I’ve learned and 5 things you can do to stand up today.

1. Call your representatives! Your reps need to know where you stand and they need to hear from you. It’s their job to listen to you. And if they don’t, it’s your job to vote in someone who will. Especially with midterms coming up in 2026. Call every day if that’s what it takes. https://5calls.org/or the app make it super easy to pop in your zip code, bring up the issues that you feel are important, and then connect you with your officials and a script to guide your words. Or feel free to ad lib. Just call. Make it part of your routine. Wake up, have coffee, call your reps.  

2. Attend town halls. https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/ for events near you. Ask questions, speak up, bring friends! This is a great opportunity to get in front of your reps and let them know that you are unhappy (or happy) with the decisions they are making. If your rep isn’t holding any, participate in peaceful rallies and protests. No Kings protest in June drew a whopping 12 million people to the streets nationwide!

3. Join local resistance groups like indivisible, ACLU, 50501, or Red, Wine, and Blue to build solidarity and community. Find local groups that support issues that have motivated you to protest. Or you can start your own group. Indivisible just completed a three-part training session to help train 1 million people to be able to form groups and organize. Session 1: https://youtu.be/ZlemcZNRHVw?si=ekVvtKg24jjiH60h Session 2: https://www.youtube.com/live/yqhFZjHIz-o?si=WklDLmpIivC3voud Session 3: https://www.youtube.com/live/VRuwFvJPm7A?si=suDExWfXZt6m0cO3

4. Boycott! Your money is power. Stop shopping at the companies that have supported this regime. Vote with your dollar. You’ve seen firsthand, when Target rolled back their DEI policies, people stopped shopping and their sales plummeted. Tesla protests, tanked sales. Find out which companies bow down to this authoritarian takeover, and let them know with your money.

5. Protect the most vulnerable in your community, undocumented immigrants, the LGBTQ community, and marginalized groups. Speak out, report things you see, refute bigoted statements. Support mutual aid groups and local politicians who are standing up. Donate food to a local food shelter to supplement the SNAP cuts from the BBB (Big Beautiful Bill). Help get people educated and registered to vote.

You are not alone. Together we can stand up for democracy. If there’s anything that I’ve discovered in these months of activism, is that many are not pleased with the way things are going, they just don’t know how or where to start. Action is the antidote to despair! Get to know your neighbors, have conversations, and strengthen the community of voices that need to get loud! We the people will stand together. And remember to have fun. Because JOY is a form of resistance.