🗳 Election Day First Aid Kit and The Meats and Cheeses of Democracy

It's a real, live Swipe Up + Lil Treasures!

I keep crying in the laundry room and while it’s very cathartic, it has ceased to be effective in any other way. I know that no matter who you are voting for, on whatever level of government, next week for us here in the US looms large. I feel waves of anxiety, that big ball of nerves in the pit of my stomach, that really has nothing to do with who will win or lose, but how we will respond to it. I was planning on doing an old-fashioned Q&A, but there was one overwhelming question from so many of you. Some form of: How do we get through this next week?/How are we dealing with our election anxiety?/What’s your Election Day plan?/What are you doing for your soul to get through the election? I’ve spent a good amount of time thinking about how to deal with next week, and I think I’ve come up with a pretty decent plan.

Know thyself. What I want to do and what I should do are two completely different things, and I have to know that. What I want to do is turn the news on and scroll Twitter and obsess, but I know I will be in a BAD HEADSPACE if this is my reality. How do I know this? I have been in a BAD HEADSPACE and have been doing these exact things. I’m not particularly smart but I can spot a pattern.

Get a confession buddy. You need someone who knows what your BAD HEADSPACE AREA is and will keep you accountable. For example, this is embarrassing, but as we inch closer to my Anxiety Event Horizon, I tend to kind of roll around in the filth of some really destructive, specific behaviors. This isn’t healthy, it’s FOR SURE not spiritually or emotionally mature, and I can raise my blood pressure within 25 seconds, which sounds like a good trick, but my doctor assures me it is not. A friend this week told me to cut it off. And she was right. That makes it sound simple, but it was an intervention, I needed it, and I’m grateful for it, because when I’m not engaging in that specific behavior, I have more time for doom-scrolling and depressive eating, which are equally as fun but the latter definitely less internally demoralizing.

Treat yourself. I ordered an enormous, beautiful charcuterie board to be delivered (local people: I ordered from Petal and Platter) and I’ll be honest, I’m looking forward to it. I think you need something to look forward to that day, preferably in the evening. Maybe it’s a good cocktail/mocktail, maybe it’s a show or a movie (I think I’m going to watch Queer Eye and maybe some clips of Mister Rogers), maybe you just want to play a dumb game on your phone in a dark room with a weighted blanket and a nice candle. Take a bath. Order take out. Give the kids some Benadryl (this is a joke wink) or throw them in a room with a movie. It’s the middle of the week, but get crazy.

Liturgical prayer. If you’ve never gotten into liturgical prayer, I think something like this is the perfect entry point. It’s in times like these that I often just kind of stare up at the ceiling and do this number:

I know I should have more coherent thoughts, but all my coherent thoughts were used up in Zoom school and banana bread baking at the beginning of the pandemic. I don’t get a refresh until the end of the year, and I find a lot of comfort and solidarity with communal, liturgical prayers written by someone else who is holier and probably has healthy coping mechanisms. This is a great prayer that I remember scrambling to find in the week hours of the morning four years ago, and it continues to be relevant now. Liturgical prayer tends to help me pray past my base instincts (which are usually something along the lines of: “This is really bad and I don’t think you’re paying attention!”), and pray myself into believing a more hopeful, Christ-centered mindset.

Make a Saturday plan. Everyone is saying this probably won’t be over on Tuesday night, and I think making a Saturday plan will help you look forward to the weekend, and not stew in indecisive juices all week. I don’t even think it has to be fancy: plan park mimosas with friends, institute Movie and Doughnut Day, or go on a hike or a walk (again, I hate that this works but it does).

If you’re actually experiencing legit Election Anxiety (this sounds like the end of a drug commercial), I think you should do whatever will bring you comfort. Because either way, no matter who wins, I think we still have to be engaged in the democratic process, we still have to hold those in power accountable, we still have to let them know that we are paying attention. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. That’s the thing about a democracy. We are the bosses, and the people who work for us think we work for them, and we have to constantly remind them that this is a government by the people, for the people. And if we need to do that while eating copious amounts of meats and cheeses, THEN SO BE IT.

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Okay it’s time for those good, good treasures for the week.

🍩 If this isn’t the straight-up tenderest thing I’ve ever read.

💅🏻 Olive & June released their winter colors for this year, and I’m extremely into the Besties shade (I love all the others, but it’s Besties for me right now). As always, you can use my affiliate link to get $10 off here.

🍲 I think I’m going to make this tortilla soup from @pinchofyum this weekend. We’ve decided to trick-or-treat, but with telescoping butterfly nets, and Alabama got cold this week, so tortilla soup it is on Saturday evening.

🤔 The tension of my desire to be more like Mister Rogers and also that side of me that has an Internet Nemesis, displayed in tea towel form.

You need some good tweets? I got ‘em. Here’s this week’s Twitter Hall of Fame:

collyn. 🇲🇸 @darkpapiii

My body is not a temple, it’s a storage unit for my regrets

This one’s for all y’all who keep hearing about “unity”:

Nate Pyle @NatePyle79

Unity comes through peacemaking. Peacemaking comes through truth-telling. Truth-telling comes through engaging difference with dignity. Dignity comes through humility. Humility comes through repentance. Repentance comes through confrontation. None of this is comfortable.

Forgive me for my Harry Styles kick this week, or don’t, it’s just good content:

rachel🦋 @canyonmoonblu

harry’s car broke down so a fans dad let him in his house and while they waited harry fed their fish and left notes for the fan and for that reason your honor, he is the only man to ever exist

Rude, but fair:

BJ Thompson @bj116

Anybody else feel seen? 🤣

Karen Howell @karenehowell

When finished, the book will be Samwell Tarly's greatest work.

People @people

The Cheesecake Factory Adds Over a Dozen New Menu Items, Including a Massive Double Cheeseburger​ https://t.co/94eYW7R384

One of my new favorite Twitter follows is Hannah Anderson (@sometimesalight), and although we do not know each other, I would very much like to be her friend, based solely on her tweets. Exhibit A:

hannah anderson @sometimesalight

So when people talk about a woman having the "spirit of Jezebel," they mean a woman who enables the rule of an evil man for her own benefit, right?

Okay friends. We’re gonna make it. Whatever happens, whatever you want to happen next week, we’re going to make it. If you’ve thought about your own Election Day First Aid Kit, or if you’re in a different country and you’ve lived through a stressful election this year, share your tips and tricks along with your own personal treasures for the week. I’ll be in and out in the comments: we’re moving offices at work, so I won’t be close to my desk for most of the day. But I cannot wait to see what you’ve been loving!

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