Finding Compassion in a Divided Climate

Published August 4, 2025

It’s no secret that the current political climate feels overwhelming. Many of us wake up each day to headlines that spark anger, fear, or exhaustion. For those already navigating anxiety or trauma, this atmosphere can amplify the sense of being unsafe or unheard.

In times like these, it’s tempting to withdraw completely or to harden ourselves against the noise. Yet research and lived experience both suggest that compassion—for ourselves and for others—is one of the most stabilizing forces we can cultivate.

Self-compassion is critical. If you’re feeling worn down by the hostility of public life, it isn’t a personal failing. It’s a human response to a charged environment. Offering yourself the same patience you’d extend to a friend can help soften the edges of stress. Sometimes that looks like limiting news consumption, sometimes it looks like grounding practices, and sometimes it’s simply telling yourself: It makes sense that I feel this way.

And compassion doesn’t mean excusing harmful behavior or pretending differences don’t exist. Instead, it’s about recognizing the humanity underneath the tension. When we pause long enough to see others not only as political identities but as people with histories, wounds, and fears, something shifts. The weight in our chest lightens. The room for dialogue—however imperfect—opens.

As the philosopher Mark Fisher once wrote, “The tiniest event can tear a hole in the grey curtain of reaction.” Small acts of compassion like listening without judgment, caring for your body, and validating your own fears, can become those events. They don’t erase division, but they keep us tethered to what makes life meaningful: connection, care, and the possibility of healing.

In a polarized world, compassion is not weakness. It’s resistance against the forces that would rather us remain divided. And it’s a path forward that begins, always, with how we choose to meet ourselves.