What Have You Been Carrying? A Self-Assessment for Navigating Authoritarian Harm
Your overwhelm isn't personal failure — it's a natural response to engineered chaos. This assessment helps you get unstuck and start strategizing.
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Some days I feel completely stuck. I stare out the window. I scroll past headlines I can't absorb, and yet can't tear myself away from. Tasks pile up. My sense of focus vanishes.
Feelings of disorientation, fatigue, ambient anxiety, and internal pressure to move without knowing where to start. These are some of the most common manifestations of what I've called the Authoritarian Harm Complex - the ways authoritarian aggression lands in our everyday lives. It describes what happens when your nervous system, purpose, relationships, safety, and work all get hit at once.
Another headline. Another pillar of democracy bulldozed. More executive orders, deportations of little kids who are citizens, mass layoffs, Big Lies, and economy-crashing tariffs. The authoritarian blitz keeps accelerating. It's getting harder to keep track or even care the way we used to.
Of course we feel overwhelmed, uncertain, disconnected from our work, people close to us, and our own sense of what matters. We are carrying more than we can name.
Why This Feels So Personal
The overwhelm you're feeling connects to something much larger. Democracy hangs in the balance, and those who care most deeply are being systematically worn down. The people who staff food banks, teach children, conduct research, provide healthcare, organize communities — the infrastructure of care that holds society together — are being pushed to their breaking point. All while Musk proclaims “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.”
The targeting also follows another pattern. Disability rights advocates, civil rights organizers, public educators, voting rights defenders, women's health providers — these movements have used democratic tools most successfully to create grassroots change. Attacking them serves a dual purpose: it further dismantles the infrastructure of care while neutralizing democracy's most effective defenders. The policy rollbacks and funding cuts are not random. They are targeting the groups that have fought hardest for justice in order to weaken democracy itself.
I felt this targeting personally when I was fired after the election for posting solidarity with federal employees — purged by an organization that had claimed progressive values like justice and equity (now gone from the website and mission). That experience of moral injury and institutional betrayal isn't unique. I've heard versions of it from people across sectors trying to live with integrity in systems under siege.
This targeting is all strategic. Deliberate. Engineered.
What Authoritarian Harm Looks Like
The news is full of analyses of Trump's actions and their impacts on institutions. Occasionally, there's a feature story about someone who got fired. But no one is investigating systematically how this authoritarian aggression is landing in our everyday lives — the accumulated weight we're carrying in our bodies, relationships, and sense of purpose.
"Name it to tame it" is a motto from social movement consciousness-raising. When we can't name what we're experiencing, we often blame ourselves. Am I overreacting? Should I be handling this better? Why does this feel so hard?
Your experience matters, even if it's not making headlines. The Authoritarian Harm Complex (detailed in the text box) is my term for the layered, cumulative effects of deliberate authoritarian disruption — targeting not just systems, but our sense of meaning, safety, connection, and agency.
You're Not Failing. You're Responding to Engineered Chaos.
What follows is an opportunity for compassionate recognition. This assessment helps you claim your experience as valid and real. You'll move from carrying invisible weight to naming what's been done to you. It sets you up for giving yourself some grace, for befriending yourself instead of blaming yourself. It's based on the Authoritarian Harm Complex framework. The goal? Help you get unstuck and start building strategies for moving forward.
Ready to begin?
Self-Assessment: What Have You Been Carrying?
Instructions: Some items may feel intense or charged — that's normal. Trust your first reaction and move quickly through the list. Don’t linger or ponder. If something resonates, check it. If not, keep going. Don't overthink it or second guess your initial reaction. This isn’t a formal diagnostic tool — it’s a pattern recognizer. A way to begin naming what you’ve been carrying.
As a result of the Trump administration’s actions since January 2025, have you experienced any of the following in your daily life, body, relationships, or sense of self? Check all that apply.
Personal and Internal Harms
1a. Vigilance Fatigue and Bandwidth Tax
[ ] I have been mentally overloaded but afraid to drop my guard.
[ ] I have second-guessed my words, monitored my tone, or rehearsed what I'm going to say.
[ ] My attention has felt fractured and even small tasks have felt huge.
1b. Existential and Purpose-Oriented Harm
[ ] I have lost my storyline - what once felt purposeful now feels fragile or disconnected.
[ ] Long-term goals have seemed unreachable or irrelevant.
1c. Moral Harm
[ ] I have felt pressure to compromise my values to keep my job, status, safety, or relationships.
[ ] I have carried shame or guilt for things I didn't do – or possibly for what I didn't stop.
[ ] There have been few or no safe places to speak the truth.
1d. Internalized Authoritarianism
[ ] I have caught myself craving control or fantasizing about retribution.
[ ] My daily mental narrative has been full of "us vs. them" thinking.
1e. Physical and Somatic Harm
[ ] My body has been breaking down - exhausted in ways rest doesn't fix.
[ ] I have carried pain, illness, tension, or numbness without clear cause.
______ Subtotal for Personal and Internal Harms [count the number of checked items]
2. Relational and Community Harms
2a. Relational and Social Harm
[ ] I have pulled away from people I care about because speaking feels risky.
[ ] Conversations have been laced with suspicion or self-censorship.
[ ] Friendships have faded or even close relationships have grown brittle.
2b. Narrative and Epistemic Harm
[ ] I haven't known what to say or what's true anymore.
[ ] I have spent energy adapting my words just to be understood or to avoid being targeted.
[ ] Reality has felt slippery.
2c. Cultural and Symbolic Harm
[ ] Stories and symbols that once gave me belonging have been distorted or erased.
[ ] What once affirmed my place in the world now feels like a liability.
______ Subtotal for Relational and Community Harms [count the number of checked items]
3. Institutional and Structural Harms
3a. Civic and Political Harm
[ ] I have stopped participating because voting feels pointless or speaking out feels dangerous.
[ ] The public square has felt like a trap.
3b. Legal and Procedural Harm
[ ] I have been blocked, delayed, or punished by systems that claim to be fair or neutral.
[ ] I have followed all the rules and still lost ground or been penalized.
[ ] Even trying to push back has felt like it could be used against me.
3c. Material and Economic Harm
[ ] My livelihood has felt unstable - I've lost income, housing, insurance, or access to basics.
[ ] I have been making survival-based decisions that shrink my options.
3d. Vocational and Institutional Harm
[ ] I have been purged, laid off, or my workplace no longer aligns with its stated mission.
[ ] I have been asked to stay silent, look away, or carry out decisions that contradict my values.
[ ] I have watched good people leave and bad actors rise while the work I care about gets hollowed out.
______ Subtotal for Institutional and Structural Harms [count the number of checked items]
______ Grand total across all items [0 to 30]
Take A Moment
Now, take a breath and look at what you've documented. Look over the items you checked and your totals. Just sit with that for a minute. Pause.
No, really. Pause. Take a deep breath and blow it out.
Whether you checked 3 items or 23, you're looking at evidence of how much you've been carrying. This isn't weakness. This is what it looks like to survive an unprecedented assault on democratic institutions in American history.
If your numbers feel high, that makes sense. Your nervous system, your relationships, your sense of purpose — they're all responding to real attacks. The fact that you're still here, still functioning, still caring enough to take this inventory shows remarkable resilience.
Befriend yourself through this recognition. The shame, the exhaustion, the confusion — none of that is evidence of your inadequacy. It's evidence of your humanity in the face of inhumane systems.
When we name harm, we stop blaming ourselves. When we gain clarity, we get unstuck. That’s how struggle becomes direction — and isolation gives way to shared strength. Your clarity can then become part of something larger.
This assessment marks your starting point. The next step? Decide what you're going to protect, who you're going to connect with, and how you're going to move forward with the clarity you've just gained.
I’ll be talking more about strategies for moving forward in future posts and a forthcoming toolkit for people who’ve been purged, silenced, or coerced in the workplace. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out.
What Surprised You?
What patterns surprised you most? Which domain hit hardest? Share one insight in the comments — your experience might help someone else feel less alone. Or just jot down one truth this helped you see. Keep it somewhere visible. That’s enough to begin.
And if this tool helped you name something you've been carrying, forward it to someone who might need it too.
Want support using this tool inside your agency or organization? I’m doing free strategy calls this month. Reach out to me on my consulting website:
https://www.progressivestrategynow.com/
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Paywalls begin this month. Please support this work. Paid subscribers make this work possible and receive special tools and resources as a thank-you. Upgrade here if you’re able. Or consider buying me a coffee or leaving a tip on Ko-fi.
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.
Tools
Explore my growing library of tools designed to help you stay grounded, focused, and resilient. Some are free. Others are available for a small cost — and every purchase helps sustain this work.
My Posts
Resisting Authoritarianism for Introverts: An FAQ for Staying Human in Loud Times. A lot of resistance advice sounds like it's meant for someone louder. But what if your strength lives in quiet — and that's exactly what this moment needs?
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. [Overview of the Authoritarian Harm Complex]
Stay Human: 80 Tiny Moves for Everyday Resistance in the Authoritarian Harm Complex. What if staying human is one of the most powerful and most unappreciated forms of resistance? Shaping tomorrow and defeating tyranny takes more than big protest events and macro strategies.
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.
Staying Human Now #1: Start Where You Are. Authoritarian harm is real. So is your capacity to respond. These three tiny moves help you pace yourself with purpose.
Staying Human Now #2: Define Your Waypoints. Confusion is the tactic. Navigation is the countermeasure. This tiny move helps you plan your own path.
Staying Human Now #3: The Connection You Forgot You Needed. Authoritarian chaos thrives on disconnection. This tiny move helps you rebuild the ties that keep you human.
What It Means to Stay Human in the Trump Era. Staying Human Now #4 - Trump’s actions are engineered to grind us down. Staying human is a key resistance strategy.
From Authoritarian Harm to Clarity of Purpose. Looking Beyond Resistance: What if Our Collective Pain is Pointing to the Better Future Worth Fighting For?
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 and have subscriptions to
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.
Your Time Starts NOW. If you like my content then you’ll love these posts by Lori Corbet Mann.
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
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.
I thought this assessment was helpful and informative. I’ve been evaluating social theory and system design as an independent scholar— I’ve developed a similar tool after discussing power dynamics with another social theorist. “Power Loop Field Diagnostic”.
My work doesn’t fall neatly into any one category, as I touch ethics, psych, system theory, cultural repair, and ecology but I believe we see a lot of the same systemic and relational issues that are arising from authoritarianism. “Power Over”, as Pieter de Beer calls it, can be offset by other system design influences. Would love to open dialogue around these ideas. It seems we are approaching similar concepts, and I feel compelled to reach out to the minds identifying issues and problem solving simultaneously. Thank you again for this article
I wonder if something is missing here. I get that this is mostly about feelings and thoughts, and in some instances actual harm to self (losing income, blocked or punished by systems) but not about being present when others are harmed. Increasing numbers of people are witnessing harm to others, not just in the media but on their own streets, in their communities, in some cases to people they know. That can be mobilizing but also overwhelming. What do you think?