For those grappling with the election results
I wasn’t surprised by the election results, but disappointment, worry, and deep sadness will be with me for a long while. May be you are feeling this and are also scared about what might happen to your community, your family, or those you love. The days and weeks after an election can be exhausting, and the anxiety about the future can be overwhelming. Therapy can help create space for those feelings and build new skills or sharpen old one’s.
In the coming weeks before January 20 (which ironically or not, is Dr. Martin Luther King Day), you may find yourself:
Consuming a lot of social media to soothe anxiety about the future. Notice how it makes you feel - do you feel more stable, secure, or comforted? Or does it make you feel more anxious? For many folks, mindful consumption of social media and the news in the coming weeks can improve mental health.
Feeling angry. There’s a lot to be mad about: candidates who lost, ballot measures that we cared about that lost, or the sense of betrayal that other people couldn’t vote for or see our individual and communal humanity. To me, an appropriate response to that is anger.
Planning, freezing, ignoring, fighting. Depending on your personality, family of origin, neurobiology and more, you might notice how your fight, flight, fawn, or freeze response is showing up right now. Our trauma responses are being activated, and noticing where we are can help us connect with resources that might help support us in the moment.
This is a painful moment.
As someone who spent 25 years doing organizing and electoral work, there’s deep wisdom from community organizing that I turn to in these moments. I’m holding on to the lessons that I’ve learned over and over no matter what the fight was:
No one can take our humanity. While things could get very, very hard in the coming years, my humanity and your humanity is not up for discussion. Our identities and full personhood are our birthright and not contingent on who is in office.
We stand on the shoulders of giants. Our ancestors and transcestors survived this and we shall too. Political regimes come and go, but our people have persisted and survived for millennia.
We will hold each other. During times of crisis, political upheaval, or direct attack — our communities have held onto each other. From mutual aid networks to self-managed abortion to checking in on our chosen family and neighbors, we don’t have to rely on the state or federal government to show up for each other.
Building community is a radical act. We will survive this better if we do it together. Join an organization, be part of a mutual aid network, show up to care for others. As scared as we are, getting into a crouch rarely helps us in the long term - taking up space with others can make us less afraid and increase our sense of connection and belonging.
Holding onto the light, and keeping my eye’s on the horizon -
Kalpana
