Coping with Depression (Post-Presidential Elections)

Earlier in the month of November, we as the United States ended a long election cycle that takes place every four years. As I was proud to finally get to exercise my right to vote, I was in disbelief by the results of the presidential election. The actually disbelief I had was not any surprise. I figured that since Donald Trump made it so far in the election, people are actually supporting this man to be our next president. I knew right after the results of the election that this was something we (as everyone who did not want Trump in office) would have to cope with. Right after the results, social media and news media outlets have been teeming with election-related articles, memes, videos, pictures, and posts with overwhelmingly negative messages. The following day, just from seeing how depressed people were, I knew that I needed to provide some coping strategies to deal with this depression.

As I thought about it before, it usually takes time for legislation to change. It doesn’t matter what party or political views you may share with the winning presidential candidate and other newly elected government officials, you have time to adjust to the upcoming changes that will be implemented. President elect will not enter in office until the end of January. If he does try to set new policies in place, it still takes time to be decided on and implemented. I used my home territory to think about this. That territory is private space and it allowed me to restore myself and my thoughts. This is a very helpful strategy to use, because territory coping helps you process information. It’s a place of refuge. A place where you can easily make predictions.

People that was on Trump side will start to feel some empowerment, but don’t let your nerve desert you. Keep your posture and stay away from harmful situations. That also includes harmfulness to your mind. I also recommend to stay off social media for a while to cope. Social media isn’t going anywhere and it’s inevitable that post-election coverage will drown media outlets for some time. Be sure to take care of yourself, and partake of social media in moderation at least until post-election conversation calms down. Coping is just something that we will have to do to come in-tune with stressful situations. Have strategies to be able to cope with things more easily and you’ll be able to stress less. Coping, it’s a part of life!

How to be the Best Urban Planning Expert - Facilitating Community Participation

Those who claim to be experts in urban planning have likely devoted years of schooling, researching, observing, and even teaching the concepts. But, through that process of repeated of experiences, internal representations and cognitive maps are made and refined. These IRs and CMs are compact, dense, and rich in connection, have multiple results, including confidence, influencing perception, reducing attentional demands, as well as ease in creating predictions and thinking about the future and ease in dealing with complexity and abstract thoughts. But, being an expert also makes it hard to remember what it was like to be a novice. In the urban planning sense, it is hard for experts to realize that those involved in their projects, say the community or other stakeholders, may not have to same insight as the experts do, often causing friction. To avoid this, it is important for urban planners, and all experts, in general, to realize a few things about novices.

For one, the community likely lacks the same basic units, or internal representations, that urban planners have when approaching a project, like, for example, building a road in a neighborhood that will cause increased traffic flow in the area, but will help alleviate traffic problems in other areas of a town. It is hard for the community to see the bigger picture when their internal representations cause them to fight for their own benefits. In addition, new information can often overwhelm novices. If the urban planners come in with an entire new plan for their neighborhood where many people have likely lived for years, it can be a lot for the community to process. Change is not always favorable. Experts like urban planners have trouble realizing this when they have no connection to an area. Experts often take the “common knowledge” approach when dealing with stakeholders, which is probably the most detrimental effect.

When sharing information with stakeholders, it is important to consider some of the following pointers and tactics. 

• Start where the novice is at by building on previous knowledge and considering existing internal representations and cognitive maps.

• Think about existing positive/negative thoughts they may have on an issue and attempt to present information in a way that focuses on these thoughts. 

• Provide a variety of concrete examples, including past projects that have been successful and imagery like pictures or videos.

• Focus on two to seven ideas, as that is the “special number” to keep in mind considering how much information humans can process at one time. 

• Limit distractions and allow novices to go at their own pace, and take breaks, when needed. 

• Provide a structure that is easy to understand, usually best done with a linear approach that provides an overview and distinct landmarks along the way.

• Using a story to explain something is an option and can often put things in perspective.

• Encourage active participation and engagement, welcoming input and conversation. Participation is key!

Participation is extremely valuable in problem solving, especially in cases like urban planning where a project directly influences the surrounded community, like the example of the road through a neighborhood. When dealing with communities, local knowledge is a huge factor because it contributes what has been done in the past, what has and has not worked, what history, culture, customs, and traditions are involved, and what constraints and resources exist. As humans, we have an innate desire to be involved and to share our ideas and opinions. In urban planning, it is important to have neighborhood meetings with communities where a supportive setting is created that allows for maximum sharing of information. People hate feeling optional or easily substitutable, as well as feeling overwhelmed or incompetent. By using the pointers above, an environment conducive to exploring solutions and sharing ideas can be created. Below are a few suggestions for creating this environment.

• Start early

• Invite many people

• Keep stakeholders involved throughout the process

• Be sure to make clear sense and consider what stakeholders may not and may already know (may seem obvious, but is often overlooked when dealing with large projects)

• Provide options and alternatives

• Invite feedback 

• Keep it small and simple, including physical space, amount of people, and time 

• Always consider future meetings

As planners and as stakeholders, it is most important to remember that public participation is extremely beneficial, when done right! But at the same time, public participation, or too much of it, can be detrimental in urban planning cases. Why might this be? Could it eliminate the role of the expert?

The Problem With Higher Education

  
 We start out in Preschool and elementary immersed in math, reading, and language. The goal of this primary education is to create well rounded citizens who can go on and support a community. In middle school the heat is turned up; more English, Spanish, and some Calculus. However, in my district when we reached high school our options concerning class schedules became much more rich. Metal working, painting, pottery, wood shop, musical theater, Psychology, Intro to Law, Sociology, etc etc. Our district was getting us ready for college and creating well rounded students by providing us with a plethora of class choices.

Come Sophomore or Junior year of college we are "encouraged" to pick a major in our area of interest. We are forced to specialize, and this is where higher education creates experts. But you may say " I remember taking all of those dumb classes that weren't remotely related to my major!"   Well I remember taking those as well. In my case my upcoming winter schedule is jam packed full of Psychology classes bar for my one Greek class. Where has the variety gone? Sure, I can pry out subtle differences in the takeaways from each psychology course, but that would dilute my point.

                    So what Can Higher Education do About Experts?

 
"If you recall from class"; a statement that implies a previous knowledge of a subject, indicating or reaching for the idea of some level of expertise. Anyhow, if you recall from class we expressed the idea that experts can have difficulties expressing ideas concerning their expertise to non-experts secondary to technical jargon. The idea that communication and idea sharing is hindered because of a gap in knowledge between subjects should not be the determinate of a dialogue.

So what if everyone was forced to take more communication focused courses? Our society believes that the budding economist or businessperson should have an entire toolbox full of communication techniques. Never mind the lay engineer or music student who will depend on interpersonal communication on a daily basis. To be forced out of a comfortable mindset is to encourage learning and growth; because I know of many people who fear the 'get to know you questions' at the beginning of the semester.

 Classes can only go so far to facilitate skills. We also need real life applications of our communication skills. So go out to that (Those) party(-ies) and explain your concentration and what you find interesting in your field. If needed conservative use of a social lubricant can remove any hesitation you may have!

                                      A Meditation on Sharing: 

                     Keep these notions in mind when communicating!

•  5 + or - 2 ideas presented at once
•  Use a story, antecedent, or an example to deliver ideas
•  Relate to your subject and their interests 
•  String together ideas into a coherent digestible thing 
•  Recap ideas and their relation to each other in the grand scheme of things 
•  Try to prevent DAF as much as possible 

To end my rant; Yes, we need experts and colleges are creating them! And being a non-expert is fine. Many of people survive and communicate well with just a high school degree or less. But I'm concerned with institutions of higher learning, these institutions need to focus on instilling effective communication techniques into these budding experts. Otherwise how are the portfolio managers going to explain Stock and Market options to their clients who have no more than a high school education? In no way does the notion of effective communication include a condescending delivery of information to the non-expert. Instead effective communication is conducive to a coherent and productive society. So get out of your comfort zone and take a few extra poetry, writing, or partying* classes to satisfy those electives.

* Read: communication

 

Why Is "The Onion" So Effective?

"The Onion" is an American news source that creates satirical news that are meant to make people laugh. They also are known to call out the hypocrisy of popular culture. I remember the first time I was fooled by "The Onion". I was 16 years old and had just recently created a Facebook. I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when I saw "Vatican Reverses Stance On Gay Marriage After Meeting Tony And Craig". The title of the article immediately caught my interest because it was around the time the current pope had been ordained. I clicked on the article excitedly thinking about how important this news is to the world and how it would be a huge revolution of the ideology in the Catholic church. It made me excited to think that soon members of the LGBT community could finally be married through the Catholic church. As I read the article, I immediately caught the sarcasm and face palmed to myself real hard for falling for the satirical news article. Below is an example of the satire from the article.

                                                  

I closed the window and read the comments on the link that was shared and saw hundreds of people commenting happily and angrily over "the Vatican reversing their stance on gay marriage" and was surprised at how many people actually fell for the article like I had. It appeared that people had not caught onto the satire and took it very seriously. It made me wonder how "The Onion" was able to tell a false narrative that many people believe. 

                                    

In class, we learned about how stories are incredibly valuable because they simplify complex situations, can be shared and remembered easily, and are compatible with the way people think. "The Onion" uses all of the valuable qualities. Their articles use language  that is easily understood, meaning that there aren't any big, difficult words that only Ph.D students can understand and their platform is on a website where each article can be easily shared when clicking any of the social media links at the bottom of the page (Facebook, Twitter, Etc). "The Onion" is also very successful at sharing information. They follow the guidelines for sharing information that we learned in class. For example, "The Onion" bases their articles on current events that are receiving a lot of attention in the media (such as the pope being ordained). In other words, they are building on their reader's prior knowledge of current events while also creating content that is relevant to what people are caring about at the current time. "The Onion" provides visuals (usually photoshopped) to help the reader visualize what their narrative is about.

                           

As you can see above, "The Onion" limits distractions on the site by not posting any ads and keeping the formatting pretty neutral. The site posts the titles, giving an easy to find overview of the information in the article. Typical articles from "The Onion" include a somewhat small paragraph of the satirical news (unlike sites such as The New York Times that have many pages of information), which makes the article a quick read. All of these qualities make "The Onion's" content highly shareable. Thinking about all of the qualities that "The Onion" has in terms of shareability and storytelling, it's easy to believe that so many people read the satirical news site thinking that it is real. Whether their narrative is real or fake, their site's content and visual aesthetic does a great job of creating a good story that is shared by a click of a button all over the world. 

How Can Dreams be Real if our Eyes Aren’t Real

Do you remember the dream you had last night? If you don’t: good. Scientists have concluded that most people who tend to remember their dreams tend to wake up from external stimuli, like an alarm clock or someone pouring water on their face. But let’s say you remember many of your dreams and have a dream journal, or even if you could care less about your dreams: we can all agree that it’s really f*cking weird. Somewhere up in our brains, something has decided to make us start thinking about sword fighting our 3^rd grade English teacher in a squirrel costume.

The human brain is one of the most complex things known to man, so let’s stay away from explaining why it happens. The fun part is trying to explain what our dreams mean. Many famous psychologists and neurologists like Sigmund Freud have tried to interpret what our dreams mean and how dreaming can benefit us. Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, explained that dreams were the road to the unconscious mind and that they could help us explain what our values and desires were.  

So let’s look at some common interpretations of weird stuff that shows up in our dreams:

• ·      A cake usually indicates a happy time in your life and is associated with confidence and good luck.
• ·      A dream where you’re falling typically means that you’re having a bad time in your life or something is bothering you and you want to escape from it.
• ·      Dreams about taking hard tests in a classroom usually indicate that there is an upcoming “test” in our life that we need to overcome using past mistakes and experience.
• ·      Dreaming about Darth Vader typically signifies that you’re currently facing a dilemma in life that involves picking between good and evil.
• ·      If you see a baby your dream, it usually signifies something new or something positive that you have started for the first time in your life.
• ·      If you dream about a badminton game, it could mean that you have to make a quick decision about something crucial in your life.
• ·      If there is a bagel in your dream, it usually points to a sexual desire.
• ·      Seeing a hammer could signify that you’re looking to or were recently “hammered”; as in being intoxicated.
• ·      Water is one of the most complex symbols, which tends to represent your unconscious mind. If you see calm water, then your life is relaxed and peaceful. If you’re walking on water, it means that you have total control over your emotions. If you dream about black or muddy water, then it points to an undesirable point in your life.
• ·      If you see lasagna in your dream, it usually resembles warmth and comfort.

These interpretations can help us, as information processors, cope with life's obstacles and give us meaning to do something. Despite these explanations, there are hundreds of other interpretations for common dreams (even though the ones above may not be very common). So next time you’re dreaming about a lawn mower, don’t run outside in your pajamas during the middle of the night to check if your front lawn grass is too long.

Making Sense of the Unexpected

Throughout our lives we encounter many situations in which we don't have control of the outcome. We constantly deal with unpredictable situations, whether that be natural disasters, car accidents, or elections. Unpredictability is the only prediction we can soundly make. Through re-framing and interpreting these events we have created mechanisms to cope with the unexpected. 

We rarely have all the knowledge we need to fully understand why things happen. So we make up stories. We rationalize why things happen by filling in the gaps with plausible events. This is the power of interpretation. 

We all struggle to make sense of tragic situations. For Calvin, the death of baby raccoon caused him to think about reasons why this would happen to an animal so young and so new in the world. He fills in his knowledge gaps until he can make sense of it all. Death and illness are often issues we need to cope with. Why did that person of all people have to suffer. Why to someone that has already been through so much? Why someone so young?

No matter the scale or the seriousness of the situation we cope with,  interpretation is always necessary for reducing the stress we feel. Interpretation is something that we can share with others. It's any easy action to take to put our life in order, to help us control our own behavior in light of the uncontrollable. 

Life can seem unfair and sometimes even the most mundane events can seem unjust. It's important to take a step back, take a breath, and re-frame the situation so we can find clarity in the situation. Instead of running, screaming from the classroom, take a breath and think that without an education we cannot become the Spaceman Spiff that's awaiting us all. 

Fake It, Till You Cope with It

            Think of something you hate doing. It can be exercising, work, visiting the in-laws, writing a paper (something I personally relate to), etc. You could hate how much time it takes out of your life, you could hate how much stress it brings, you could hate how much it drains your focus, or you could hate the fact that doing too much of it will drain your directed attention and inhibit you from focusing on things you love. One of the reasons you hate doing something is because it puts strain on you. However, the million-dollar question is, how do you cope with doing something you hate? One the answers; is fake it, until you make it.

How does one “fake it till you make it” in terms of coping? The answer is simple; it’s all about the interpretation. It’s about how you interpret the thing you hate which makes all the difference. It’s the difference between feeling tense because you must do the thing you hate and relieved because you’re able to properly interpret it in a way where less stress internalized.

To put this in more perspective, let’s think of the story of Tom Sawyer. In the story, Tom is given the task of painting a picket fence. Obviously, like for most people, Tom didn’t want to do this task. Painting is often stressful work. It requires plenty of directed attention and quickly causes fatigue. When he started painting the fence, Tom pretended to have alot fun. He would be smiling and laughing and making seem like painting was a stressful, fun activity. Eventually, somebody comes by and sees Tom having a blast painting. Sawyer is able to convince the person that painting is the coolest activity ever. The person ends up painting the fence for Tom, while he sits back and relaxes.

The important thing to grasp is how Tom could convince someone that a stress-inducing task, like painting a wooden fence, was not bad. This is because Tom was able to change that person’s perception on the task. He could convince the person that they would get something fun and creative by painting, thus giving the person positive motivation to do it. Being able to positively interpret situation is a key to coping with stress. If you see an activity that you despise, pretend that it’s amazing (even if it’s not). You might just be able to trick yourself into believing it’s great.

            What is coping? Coping refers to the various ways human deal with the stress of their environment. When somebody is coping with stress, it does not mean the stress will completely go away. Coping is just a way to help humans dampen, or deal, with stress in manageable ways. Think of coping as eating a steak. It would not be wise to swallow a whole steak because it is more than you can take in. That is why you must bite and chew (cope) on the steak (stress) to properly swallow it.

Stress decreases a person’s capacity to deal with environmental situations. It puts strain on their directed attention and ability to focus. If somebody is stressed out, they would unlikely pay much attention to important events going on. Directed attention is limited and fatigues easily. Without directed attention, humans would not be able to focus on important events happening within their environment.

Proper interpretations can be an ideal way for dealing with environmental stress. The lower a person’s stress the more effective they will be at their tasks. In plain English, if you cope with the things you hate, you will be able to focus on the things you love. If you see a situation, event, or task that you must do then just think about the story of Tom Sawyer.

There other great benefits interpretation have on coping. To interpret a stressful situation in a different way gives that situation more sense. Human beings feel more calm and relaxed when what they are doing has some logic behind it. The world is often unpredictable and does not always provide clear guidelines on what to do. Using interpretation while coping provides clarity. When you move to a new town, for example, and feel anxious about navigating through you new neighborhood try thinking of it in a different perspective. Think of all the nice things this new neighborhood that your old one might not have. When you're trying to memorize the layout of the streets, pretend that you're discovering rather than not trying to get lost.

Think of ways to change your perceptions of your task to find your motivations. One of the best ways to change your perceptions is to find personal ways that a stressful task can benefit you. If you can’t find any rewards that relate to you, then make one up. If you don’t have any enthusiasm, then fake it. If you pretend there is an awesome benefit, then you will most likely convince yourself that there.