by Sarah Yang via The/Thirty
We’re only a few days out from Election Day, and the stress and anxiety levels are at an all-time high for a lot of people. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been thinking about the lead-up to Election Day and the day itself for a very long time now, and I think COVID-19 has made my focus on it even more heightened. Because not only do we have a global pandemic to worry about, but we’ve also got a high-stakes election coming at us. It’s enough to make someone who is normally cool as a cucumber start to freak out.
You can’t really escape it, either. No matter what I do to create boundaries around the election news cycle, I can’t help but get sucked into it, whether it’s watching TV or scrolling (or doomscrolling) through my phone. It doesn’t help that my job is literally the internet, so I can’t really escape dire headlines.
The what-ifs and maybes and best-case/worst-case scenarios can really drive you nuts. The uncertainty is what makes the stress and anxiety a lot worse—especially if you’re like me and have a very vivid imagination along with a talent for jumping to conclusions.
But as much as I have my moments of worrying myself into a dark abyss, I know I can’t let myself do that 24/7 and that I’ve got to take care of my mental health. If I’m not in the right mindset, that’s not going to be good for my whole self (mind and body), and it’s certainly not going to be useful to anyone else around me.
So you’ve got to prepare yourself mentally for Election Day and the days after since many experts are saying we won’t get results until later. And of course, we’ll need to get our mindsets in a good place for the outcome, no matter what happens.
