America and the world are waiting to exhale
Will we breath easier the morning of November 6th?
Below is my response to a post in a Facebook group that I belong to. The person posting was expressing discouragement about an unsuccessful job search. One point that I especially wanted to make was how I suspect many hiring decisions are on hold until employers know the outcome of the election. Similarly, a few days ago my niece and I were having a conversation about how many producers have gone radio silent about funding creative projects. My response to her was similar. No one is making investments until they understand what the political landscape will be here in the United States. My niece agreed saying that the mantra she’s hearing these days is SURVIVE UNTIL 2025!
As much as we think businesses would align with the Republican candidate, businesses value political stability especially when it comes to rule of law. Businesses rely on adherence to contracts and legal recourse. With a global economy, the President’s words can move global markets. I won’t belabor this point, but I will link two videos that are worth watching to further address this point. My overarching point is that businesses across all industries are in a holding pattern and will soon make decisions about hiring and investing based on who wins the presidency.
Likewise global leaders, both friends and foes alike to the United States, are anxiously standing by with contingent strategies to immediately execute once our president-elect is announced.
Here stateside, many are on edge. We are craving stability and we are annoyed with the state of our politics. Those that are even slightly engaged are annoyed and insulted with what our politics has devolved into. Those that are not as engaged are annoyed because politics is entering into mythical politics-free zones. The Call Her Daddy podcast episode with Vice President Harris comes to mind along with the most recent episode of the Club Shay Shay podcast with guest John Legend. The opening teaser of the episode is John Legend making the case for Vice President Harris. Sure enough there was annoyance and outrage expressed in the comments. Though this specific outrage is likely about the candidacy of our Vice President, I can totally see how someone can be annoyed that political conversations are bleeding all the place. No corner of our lives has been spared.
Annoyance is only one adjective that begins with the letter ‘a' that describes how many of us feel. Anxious would be the other. With greater awareness of our mental and emotional health, many people are expressing how anxious they feel. As Election Day draws near our anxiety continues to worsen. As eager as we are for this thing to be over, we are very much worried that our worst fears will be realized. We’ve been told that our freedoms have been left to the odds of a toss-up. Nothing about that prospect speaks to balance and stability.
Though I’m not sure who to attribute it to, I read this quote the other day. Anxiety is an overestimation of a threat and an underestimation of our ability to handle/cope with it. Regarding the election, I believe the threat of that man returning to office has been rightly estimated. Regarding our ability to handle this threat, we have reason to be anxious because all of our safeguards up until this point have been bulldozed over. And now our hope is that a divided nation will muster up enough unity to do the right thing. Again nothing about that prospect speaks to balance and stability.
When it comes to alleviating fear and anxiety, decatastrophizing is a go-to favorite of mine to both use for myself and suggest to others as a therapeutic intervention. Decatastrophizing involves examining worst-case scenarios and determining courses of action to take. Essentially it is a way of discovering our power when presented with devastating circumstances. Unfortunately, decatastrophizing is not sufficient this time around because the worst-case scenario is unfathomable because we’re not supposed to fathom it and the worst-case scenario would actually strip us of our power.
Some might say that we as a nation deserve the suffering that may come our way because of the suffering we are presently causing in Gaza. My response to that is no one is deserving of suffering. Not even this man’s supporters. But we could very well become collateral damage and that is cause for anxiety.
Personally at this very moment, I don’t feel anxious. I’ve purposed in my heart to believe for a decisive Harris victory until the results tell me otherwise. I’ve expended enough emotional energy already and I would rather expend it in other ways. As much as I have stayed engaged with politics, my desire is it to not be as vigilant going forward. Initially, I chose to stay on top of things after the 2008 election because I wanted to see how the first black President of the United States would be received.
My curiosity led me to attend my first political rally while living in Detroit and volunteer for the 2008 Obama campaign. At the time, I didn’t know anything about swing states nor that I was living in one. As the campaign ran its course, I felt very confident that Barack Obama would win.
The night of the 2008 election, I had absolutely no desire to stay awake for hours to hear the results. I prayed for a decisive victory. Sure enough the race was called for Obama as soon as the final west coast polls closed. I made a couple of celebratory calls, then turned over and went to sleep.
After closely observing President Obama’s first term in office, my question about how he would be received was answered many times over. Thankfully in 2012, I learned before going to bed election night that his ascension to the presidency was not a fluke. In 2016 for my own sanity, I turned off the television in disgust and did not sleep well. The next morning at work my colleagues and I consoled each other.
The heaviness weighed on me so much that I had to make my way to church that following Sunday, a place I’d been avoiding because I was still figuring out the type of relationship I wanted to have with church. By this time, I was living in Chicago and thought perhaps the Obamas’ home church would have something to say on the matter. Thankfully, Rev. Otis Moss III did not disappoint and delivered a word that indeed lifted the heaviness off of me.
As for why I don’t feel anxious at this moment, I have several thoughts. Part of it could be that I now live in the comfort of a solid blue state. I do experience an echo chamber of sorts. But I’m very aware of the opposition. I very much hear everyone say how tight of a race it will be. Intuitively, however, I expect it to be a clear and decisive victory for our Vice President.
My intuition solidified as I listened to the iHeart Radio Audio Town Hall. It was the intonation and resolve in the Vice President’s voice when I heard her say, I’M GONE WIN!! Perhaps the culturally familiar tone is what made me smile. But what I clearly remember is how those three words, which she immediately repeated, landed in my spirit, simultaneously soothing and resolute in a way that all I could say was, AMEN!
**7-second video
In a subsequent campaign event, the Vice President was asked about dealing with anxiety and the weight of the moment. She spoke of her personal routine and also offered a salient message for all of us to heed.
**67-second video
While I’m choosing to harness my power and have kept anxiety at bay, I’m not so confident to believe that on November 5th I won’t experience any heart palpitations. Living on the west coast should make the night easier because after the polls close here there will still be several hours left in the day to wind down from all the hoopla before going to bed. I expect my wind down routine to include a breathing technique I learned from actress, Sanaa Lathan, a few months back.
I’m also expecting that the next morning we will wake up with our anxiety quelled and our lungs primed for the biggest exhale ever!!
Onward to breathing easier and Harmonious Balance, my friends!
Johanna
**For customized content requests,1:1 coaching and/or speaking inquiries, feel free to contact me.**