Stay Sane: 80 Tiny Moves to Resist Digital Despair and News Overwhelm in the Trump Era

Tiny moves live in the terrain between hypervigilance and retreat. They keep us agile and motivated.

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My recent post, Stay Human: 80 Tiny Moves for Everyday Resistance in the Authoritarian Harm Complex, went viral with over 45,000 views, likes and shares. People commented they felt seen and equipped with practical ideas for staying motivated in the Trump era. This post is a sequel and has 80 NEW tiny moves with an emphasis on managing the digital overwhelm that is layered on top of the authoritarian harms so many are struggling with.

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I scan the main headline of the day. Then check the same story on four other sites. All different angles!

Today: Trump’s eagerness to accept a $400 million jet from Qatar royal family “might raise ethical issues,” or “is brazen corruption,” or is below the fold – depending on the app.

My stomach clenches, outraged by both the story itself (fyi, it’s brazen corruption) AND the confusing fog of coverage and takes.

I switch to Wordle for relief. Then feel guilty for bailing on current events after just one headline. I’m supposed to be engaged during such a critical time in history.

An hour later I’ve skimmed a lot of headlines. Details blur. My anxious vigilance is high. My clarity about how to start my day is low.

Authoritarian Aggression is Not the Only Source of Harm Today

Trump’s strategy of aggression and chaos is one source of harm. But it’s not the only one.

The news and media landscape has always exploited our fears to serve power and profit. Now, the tactics to keep us reactive and alone are supercharged — and super profitable — during Trump 2.0.

Trump and Musk - apex predators and partial owners of the outrage-and-fear industrial complex - are locked in a hellish symbiosis with the news and social media platforms, each amplifying the other’s worst aspects for mutual gain.

The more I try to “stay informed,” the more I feel “deformed.” Pulled away from myself, from others, from any solid sense of what matters.

And the way I reach, like a junkie, for that hit of outrage at Trump, or “those stupid MAGA people”? That’s not who I want to be.

But I’ve been conditioned to perform that outrage and bad othering on cue - like Pavlov’s dog, salivating when the bell rings.

So what the hell do we do?

Tuning out completely doesn’t feel right. Digital minimalism appeals to me about as much as renouncing electricity. The digital commons is also where I find local events, remember birthdays, and share pics with friends.

On the other hand, burning myself out on endless hot takes and trying to “understand what’s really happening to our country” just depletes motivation and focus.

So I’m trying something else. Something that helps me stay in motion without losing my mind.

These 80 “tiny moves” are my experiments with ways to navigate the terrain between tuning out and burning out.

These came out of the lived experience of myself, colleagues, friends and the community organizations and leaders I consult with. Some were adapted from conversations with readers. Others emerged through teaching, organizing, reflection, or reading. This list is emergent, not closed.

Tiny Moves – Bigger Than They Seem

Tiny moves are footholds. Small, specific things I reach for when I feel myself slipping into numbness, hypervigilance, or cynicism.

They help me stay human and sane. For me, this means trying to hold onto the parts of myself that systems (news, media, politics, culture, the economy) seem purpose-built to wear down and exploit.

Sometimes tiny moves to stay human and sane looks like reaching out to someone before I disappear.

Sometimes it's creating a group chat where we can disagree without yelling IN CAPS.

Sometimes it’s pausing before I repost something just because it made me mad.

Sometimes it’s remembering I still get to choose what I pay attention to, what I let shape me — even though the need to exercise that agency over and over again can feel exhausting.

What I've learned is that staying human isn’t something I can sustain alone.

The days I feel most like myself are the days I’m connected to others who are also fighting to stay present and clear-eyed. And by ‘connected’ I mean conversations and hugs, not clicks and likes.

Maybe these new tiny moves will help you too.

Tiny Moves to Stay Sane Amidst Coverage Designed to Exploit and Harm Us

Tiny moves are not just about feeling better and preserving our softness. They help protect the inner architecture that lets us sustain the clarity and effort required to resist disinformation, fragmentation, and collapse.

Start anywhere. Pick something that meets you where you are. Try one. Come back later and pick another. Invent your own. Explore and experiment.

If even one of these helps, tell someone. Or share your own.

We’re all building this playbook together.

1. Write down: “I’m not failing for feeling overwhelmed. I’m responding to engineered chaos.” Tape it somewhere visible.

2. Mute one account that always makes you feel like your outrage is a form of virtue. You don’t have to prove your morality to the algorithm.

3. Make a playlist that isn’t about survival. Not resistance anthems or grief processing. Just songs that feel like joy.

4. Ask someone you trust: “How are you navigating the news overload?” Let it be real.

5. Turn off your phone and put it in a drawer for one hour. No big ceremony. Just out of reach, on purpose.

6. Say: “I don’t have to have a take on that right now.” Let it be an act of resistance.

7. Schedule a news-free dinner with someone who makes your heart smile. No doom or politics. Just restorative companionship. Phones off.

8. When your mind spirals into “what if” scenarios, write down one small thing you can do right now. Then decide whether to do it.

9. Replace one anxiety- or boredom-driven media-check habit with a sensory one. Touch something warm. Smell something alive. Step outside. Interrupt the loop. Commit to diversifying your portfolio of self-soothing moves.

10. Ask yourself: “How much more information would I need to make a decision or commit to a specific action?” Sometimes our minds trick us into believing that seeking more information will keep us safe.

11. Keep a running list of “actual things I’ve done this week.” Chores, meals, decisions, kindnesses. Document agency.

12. Start a group text called “Sanity Check.” No hot takes on headlines, no bitching about “them”. Just grounding, witnessing, low-stakes presence.

13. Ask: “Is this news anxiety asking me to act, or just to spiral?” If it’s the second, step back.

14. Offer someone an hour of your time without news takes. Just a porch. Or a walk. Keep your phone muted and in your pocket.

15. Make a list titled: “Who I can actually help today.” Write some names. Let the rest be background noise.

16. When you feel guilt for not reading the latest news, ask: 'Would more doom make me more effective?' How much doom is enough?

17. Put your phone on airplane mode for the first 20 minutes of your day and postpone news. Resist beginning the day with someone else’s agenda.

18. Let one news or social notification sit unread on purpose. Build your tolerance to resist manipulation. Choose when to act.

19. Don’t read the news or doom scroll social apps in bed before trying to sleep. Put away the day. Rest.

20. Send a short message to someone you used to talk to more often. One line. No news commentary. Just “thinking of you”.

21. Ask someone: “What helps you stay grounded when the news is too much?” Steal each other’s survival strategies.

22. Write down three things you’ve done this week that no one applauded you for. See them. Name them. They count.

23. Create a ritual for closing the news day. A bell, a stretch, a phrase. Anything that marks “enough.”

24. Notice what you do right after reading upsetting news. Is it helping you make sense, decide, or act? Or is it just fueling the anxiety doom spiral?

25. If you can’t stop scrolling, scroll differently. Look for something beautiful, hilarious, or surprising. Search for waterfalls, record setting pumpkins, baby animals. Reset the signal.

26. Say no to one weekly conversation that always leaves you feeling worse. You’re allowed to protect your bandwidth.

27. Pick one story you’re following too closely. Take a 48-hour break. If something major happens, you’ll hear about it. Let your brain cool down.

28. Don’t just disable alerts. Move one app off your phone entirely. Make it harder to get hijacked on autopilot.

29. Do one small thing that reconnects you to the physical world. Wipe down the counter. Water a plant. Fold something. Be here.

30. Do one small thing that reconnects you to the natural world. Feel rain fall on your face. Close your eyes and listen to the wind. Move your hand in and out of a ray of sunshine, feel the temperature change.

31. Close all but two browser tabs. The others will find their way back if they matter.

32. Start a shared doc with one friend called “Here’s what helped this week.” Add one thing. Keep it low-pressure. Trade notes on resisting news and media manipulation. Be subversive.

33. Ask someone you live with: “What news do you actually want to talk about, if any?” Get permission before launching in. Or skip it entirely.

34. Buy a physical newspaper or print out one article. Slow down your news intake. Let it land differently.

35. Keep a running list of “Stuff I actually care about that never trends.” Add one thing each week. Defend your own priorities.

36. Pick one time of day when you don’t touch your phone. Start small. Ten minutes is enough.

37. Set a recurring reminder that says “You’re allowed to not be engaged with news right now.” Read it. Breathe. Put down the vigilance.

38. Notice when you start tracking five stories at once. Pick one to step away from. You don’t owe the news your full bandwidth.

39. Leave one group chat that makes you feel like you have to perform your distress or your outrage. Permission to exit.

40. If a post makes you mad, try not sharing it. Interrupt the outrage-to-engagement contagion pipeline.

41. Let one issue you can’t control live in the background today. Name it. Then step away. It’ll still be there tomorrow.

42. Say: “I’m logging off because I care, not because I don’t.” Then do it.

43. Plan one boring, grounding thing for tomorrow where you won’t check the apps. Grocery run. Laundry. Whatever brings you back to earth.

44. Look away from your screen and name five objects in the room. Say them out loud. Let yourself land where you are.

45. Ask: “What story am I carrying in my body right now as I read the news or scroll?” Name it. Even a few words can shift something.

46. Delete one item on your do list that’s been there a long time and that makes you feel like you’re falling behind. Maybe you don’t really have to, or want to, do it.

47. Message a friend and ask: “Want to commit to a no-pressure staying sane chat?” Weekly or monthly. Low-stakes. You choose the rhythm.

48. Make a “news I’ve been enraged about” list. One or two things is enough. Witness what you’ve been carrying.

49. Unfollow one account that confuses outrage with clarity. Notice the space it opens up.

50. Say to yourself: “Being overwhelmed by current events is not a sign of moral depth or virtue.” Say it again if needed.

51. Share a link to something useful without adding your take. Let the content speak. Let silence be a kind of trust.

52. Text a friend: “I’m not okay, but I don’t need fixing. Just saying hi.” Make space for truth without performance.

53. When you feel guilt for not reading the latest news, ask: “Would more doom make me more effective?” Let the answer redirect you.

54. Write one sentence that starts with: “What I still care most about is…” Say it like a stake in the ground.

55. Stand barefoot for 30 seconds. On the floor. In the grass. Replace virtual vigilance with planted presence.

56. Reach out to someone who usually texts first. Reverse the current, connect.

57. If a headline makes you feel like the world is ending, step outside. Even if it’s just the sidewalk. Let your senses argue with the story.

58. Choose one hour this week to be absolutely unreachable, phone off. No justifying. No apology.

59. Ask someone what they miss that used to be part of daily life before news about Trump became omnipresent. Trade grief without solving it.

60. When you feel like you’re scrolling at warp speed, do something slow on purpose. Chop vegetables. Clean a drawer. Reclaim time.

61. Say: “This story can be important without consuming me.” Repeat it if needed. Especially before bed.

62. Set your phone to grayscale for one hour. It’s weird. That’s the point.

63. Share something unfiltered about your digital overwhelm. No reaching for advice or wisdom. Invite trust, not branding.

64. Say: “I’m going to be slow to respond to messages this week.” Then be slow. No explanation needed.

65. Leave one Slack or Discord channel that feels like emotional static. No one will notice. You will.

66. Change your lock screen to something that calms you down. A sentence. A photo. A reminder.

67. Name one value you refuse to surrender when the news feels like an assault. Whisper it if you need to.

68. Put down your phone and hold someone’s hand for a full minute. Just the pulse of another person saying: we’re still here.

69. Open a real book instead of an app. Let your nervous system remember what slowness feels like.

70. Write down one sentence you’d want future-you to remember about your digital despair. Say it like you're writing a postcard to your own clarity.

71. Save one article or thread that gave you actual insight, not just upset. Bookmark it. Let it be a breadcrumb back to sense-making.

72. After an upsetting story or post, a yourself: “What do I still know to be true, even now?” Write it down. Let it be enough for today.

73. Revisit a trusted historian, thinker, or reporter. Take a break from hot take pundits. Slow news is still news. Let their long view calm your short fuse.

74. Screenshot one headline that tried to manipulate you. Write a counter headline beneath it. You don’t need to post it. Just reclaim the frame.

75. Forward one local org’s post to a friend - not to perform, but to inform. No take needed. Just “Thought you might want to know.”

76. Add one number to your phone: maybe a rep or a local mutual aid group. Make taking meaningful action one click closer.

77. Write one sentence about what you’d protect in your community if the news got worse. Let that guide your next small move.

78. Send a thanks message to someone who’s actively organizing. Witnessing and appreciating are also solidarity.

79. Pause before replying to a post you disagree with. Ask: “Do I want dialogue or dopamine?” Act accordingly.

80. Text someone you love something completely unrelated to politics. Normalize non-performance connection.

Everyday Emergent Strategy

These tiny moves are strategy at a human scale, not a detour from “real” strategy. They are how we stay in motion, aligned with our values, when digital profiteers would rather we are motionless and absorbed in our apps.

If even one of these gave you a foothold, let that be enough for today. Come back when you need another. Or make your own.

If this helped, forward it to a friend. Or highlight a line and post it in Substack Notes, your share might reach someone who needs it.

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https://paultshattuck.substack.com/subscribe?coupon=6aba5ba3

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New posts to help stay human and strategic in the face of systemic harm drop every week. Let’s keep building.

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Where This Work Leads

This blog is part of a larger project called Progressive Strategy Now which is more than just my blog’s title. It is my attempt to meet the moment, a growing collection of resources and consultation to help mission-driven people and organizations stay human and stay strategic while navigating moral injury, institutional destruction, and the lived realities of authoritarian harm. If this post gave you words for something you’ve been carrying, you’re in the right place. This is one dispatch in an ongoing series.

Stay human. Stay strategic. Shape tomorrow.

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Strategies for Staying Human in the Face of Authoritarianism

If you’re looking for practices, tools, and deeper reading to help you stay grounded under pressure, this growing list is for you. It includes some of my previous posts and a section for other resources. These are starting points for staying human in hard times.

My Posts

• The Harms Are Cumulative. Your Overwhelm Is the Goal. Let’s Get Unstuck
  Trump and Musk weaponize chaos to exhaust our capacity for resistance. Recognizing the patterns of harm gives us the framework to protect our humanity and reclaim our strategic power.

• Befriend Yourself: A Strategy for Staying Whole While They Dismantle Everything That Matters. Trump and Musk want to disappear you into a cell of despair. Kindness to yourself is how you stay human—and begin your escape.

• When They Gut Your Mission: Start Here…. You’re still standing. That means you get to choose where to go next.

Blogs I recommend

• Invisible Threads. Veteran journalist Kate Woodsome is pioneering coverage at the intersection of democracy and mental health.

• The American Pamphleteer. “Because freedom won’t fight for itself—but together, we sure as hell can. Subscribe for bold, unfiltered takes on resisting fascism, building real community, and living with guts in chaotic times.“

• How To Resist. Great blog about sustainable ways to remain engaged in activism and mutual aid.

• Chop Wood, Carry Water. This blog is full of daily advice to take action and stay motivated.

Other Resources

• ACT for Moral Distress, online course by Dr. Jaimie Lusk. “Navigate moral distress with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, a powerful evidence-based treatment that allows us to hold our pain while taking valued actions.”

• In Tumultuous Times, Think Like a Hostage. “Guidance given to hostages can foster psychological flexibility in tough times.” Very clever article by Dr. Jaimie Lusk.

• Please drop additional suggestions for resources in Comments

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My Consulting Services

Need a new strategic plan that protects your mission and your funding during hard times? I help mission-driven professionals and progressive organizations cultivate agility and resilience to navigate moral injury, authoritarian drift, and institutional harm without losing their purpose or humanity. Service include:

• Strategic plan revisions to meet the moment.

• Fundraising and communications.

• Developing resilient data systems to track unmet needs and the downstream harms resulting from authoritarian aggression.

Let’s talk. Direct message me to start the conversation. Or request a consultation using my website’s contact form:

Progressive Strategy Now website

***From Progressive Strategy Now, a publication of Paul T Shattuck LLC. The views expressed here reflect my personal analysis as a researcher and consultant, and do not represent the positions of any employer, clients, or affiliated organizations.