Containing our fear

Valerie Fitzgerald

In his Oct. 5 essay on Substack, Robert Reich observed that many individuals are experiencing symptoms consistent with mental health diagnoses such as anxiety and depression. “But what many of us are feeling now is not a personal disorder. It’s a rational response to a nation that’s becoming ever more disordered.”
Reich calls this “America’s trauma.” In a crisis or traumatic situation, our nervous system adjusts body chemistry to help us survive, often called the “fight or flight” response. When the crisis passes, our bodies are meant to return to a calmer state.
Memories of a crisis situation are not stored or recalled in the same way as other memories. A person may not remember what happened to them consciously. However, traumatic memories can resurface unexpectedly if a sight, sound or smell reminds us of the experience. The nervous system becomes dysregulated and the fight-or-flight crisis response may be triggered.
One method that can be helpful for people is to create a sort of internal container to hold difficult memories and feelings. When people can organize and contain these memories – for example, by writing about them – the traumatic experience becomes more manageable in the present.
In 2025, I wrote a four-part series to commemorate the five-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death. I studied U.S. history, and examined how my own ancestors became Americans. I explored the lessons I learned as a kid, when I was being socialized as a white person. Writing for the Longfellow Nokomis Messenger helped me to sort out and process my memories and experience. The columns I wrote served as my container.
Taking part in peaceful protests has been another container. On June 14, the day Representative Melissa Hortman was murdered, I was overwhelmed by despair. The first No Kings protest was planned for that day, and I attended one of the smaller gatherings near my home. Being with my neighbors helped me to feel like I was part of something bigger than myself, bigger than any one act of violence. The sadness remained, but it helped to know I was not alone.
A second No Kings protest took place on Oct.18. Once again, I opted to go to a small protest, within walking distance of my home. On the way there, I stopped and chatted with a neighbor. He had a pumpkin in his yard with “No Kings” carved into it.
Across the country, millions of Americans have turned out in support of a maintaining a representative government. This government will always be a work in progress. Each generation sees the flaws and mistakes of the past and strives to correct them. Individuals and groups who were silenced and pushed to the margins find and use their voices.
It’s not easy. Winston Churchill put it this way in 1947: “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
Right now we are not dealing with memories. We are in the midst of significant change. I don’t know what will happen next week, let alone next year or five years from now. In his essay, Robert Reich described feeling powerless, afraid, disoriented, vulnerable, and anxious. Understandably, when a person feels this way, they want to do something. For me, writing has been helpful. Other people contribute in any way they can.
In difficult times, it’s important to give ourselves grace and compassion when we can. Heather Cox Richardson recently wrote in the comments section of a Facebook post: “People think you have to do something dramatic to make a difference, but often all you have to do is keep breathing and trying to put one foot in front of the other.” We don’t need permission to get a good night’s sleep, to care for ourselves and our loved ones, to laugh and be creative and share hope and joy as well as fear and uncertainty.
I grew up on a small farm in Washington County, Minn. I first moved to the West Bank/Cedar Riverside neighborhood in 1981. I moved to Bancroft in 1991, then to Longfellow in 2010. While I still love rural and wild places, Minneapolis is my home now. I have faith that, eventually, this era will be put into some kind of context, a container, that makes sense. Until then, I stand with my neighbors.
Valerie Fitzgerald is a clinical counselor who has worked in mental health care since 2011. She resides in Howe.