What to do post-election

6 immediate recommendations

Nov 12, 2024

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Last week an Edit Your Life listener reached out with the following request:

“Could you please do an episode on what people can do if they are upset with the election results and what it says about the future of our country? I feel like I am living during the civil rights era or 1930s Germany, and I want to look back on this and know that I did everything I could to fight for justice, equality, and decency. Before the election, I donated money, wrote postcards, had yard signs, and of course voted. But with the results last night, I'm not sure what to do next.”

I ended up producing a short episode, which I recorded two days after the election. Here’s the episode if you would prefer to listen. (You can also hit the play button at the embedded player here.)

I know not everyone is into podcasts, so I wanted to also make these thoughts accessible written out. Here are the six recommendations—minus my brief podcast introduction and with some minor edits to accommodate reading-not-listening mode:

Thank you to this listener for writing in. Let me first acknowledge that all of those things—donating, voter outreach, yard signs, voting—are excellent actions to keep carrying forward. Beyond these things, I have six recommendations for what to do next.

1. Remember that we can do hard things

The first recommendation is a big picture one related to resilience. It's interesting...the day before the election, I was working on a significant client project. I literally was burning something down to build it back up again. So when Violet came home from school, I apologized and told her I needed to run right back up to my office after checking in with her to deal with this situation since things were in just-burned-down mode. She was so sweet and said, "Mom, go! It's okay! Remember that sometimes things need to get really terrible before they get better.”

I have been thinking about those words a lot. Related, I was also so moved in talking to a Black friend and colleague the morning after the election. They were so steady and grounded and basically were like, "We have survived worse. We are resilient and need to draw on these stories to change things moving forward." And then I saw this post from Black Lives Matter on Instagram, which sums up the big picture sentiment we all need to bear in mind moving forward. They wrote:

“Disappointment is something we know all too well. It's been a part of our story for generations through struggle, betrayal, and hardship, but it's never been the whole story, not even close. Every day we rise, that's the true miracle. We take the setbacks and rebuild something beautiful out of love. We carry the heartache and somehow find new strength. Our ancestors showed us that disappointment might knock us down, but it can't keep us there. It shapes us, strengthens us, and makes us impossible to ignore. Together, we'll keep rising because giving up has never been an option.”

2. Tap into agency

As I wrote about in the Election Week Healing Plan, in times of extreme chaos and distress, it is all the more important to tap into things over which you actually have agency. I encourage you to read the healing plan post for lots of specific details about how I am doing this across my 12 recommendations.

3. Act in service of your nervous system

The 12th recommendation in the Election Week Healing Plan is to embrace a radical act of self-care. And I think if you are feeling gutted by the election results, this tactic is more important than ever for the sake of your nervous system. We just cannot, as humans, function if we are in high, red alert, super stress, anxiety mode all the time. I will say, as someone who is very much in motion and tuned to getting things done, my most radical act of self-care is always rest. I don't often do things that don't have a tangible purpose, and I don't make many purely recreational purchases. So before the election, I decided to treat myself and order a new, very difficult, Galison 1,000-piece puzzle of a houseplant jungle scene. Doing puzzles is one of the most effective ways for me to redirect and calm my brain. And it has been so helpful to have this puzzle in my arsenal of simple healing tactics. I am deeply enjoying doing the puzzle without looking at the box. This is just how I roll. And I probably will treat myself to another one. The puzzle was only $16.

4. Set internet boundaries that work for you

This is sort of related to radical rest, but I think taking a mindful and intentional approach to social media, news, doom scrolling, etc., is important. Here are a couple of specifics related to my approach in case it helps you tap into your own plan.

Over the past couple of days, I've stayed off of Facebook with the exception of quickly popping on to see if there were any adorable memory pop-ups of my kids because those are a total mood boost, and then to do the bare minimum of work-related stuff. I just knew it was not going to be useful for me to be in this space.
As of the time of this recording, I was just not ready to absorb podcasts, analysis pieces, thought pieces, etc., about the election. The day after the election, I did want to look up one stat, and as soon as I did, I was like, “Okay, no, back up the truck.” It did not feel good to wade into that stuff. And so I put my attention on this next recommendation.

5. Focus on human connection

My fifth recommendation is to stay connected to humans. On my dog walk the morning after the election, the distress was palpable. I heard one car crash and saw another fender bender in the span of about six minutes. Sirens abounded all morning, people were distracted, neighbors I saw while I was out on my walk were gutted. The first thing I did after I got back to my office was text with Laurel. And then over that day and the following days, I sent a lot of quick texts to loved ones who I knew would be gutted, sending virtual hugs. On the day after the election, I adjusted my schedule to finish work by the time Violet got home so I could spend time with her after school and also create space to make and deliver boxes of emotional healing cookies and brownies to several neighbors. I also invited our closest neighborhood friends over if that felt useful to them. One had spent the last couple of days volunteering in a swing state and was traveling back the day after the election, which just felt like so much to carry. They ended up not coming over, but they did receive a delivery of a box of emotional healing baked goods.

And also, related to staying connected to humans, your local community and stepping in where you can is more important than ever, whether that's volunteering for a local organization, running for office in your town or city, donating, and/or showing up to support across any number of the many issues and populations that are, and will continue to be, under fire.

Basically, in the face of so much that is out of my control, I am leaning in to support and nurture relationships, and also look for where I can plug in at a community advocacy and support level.

6. We need to prioritize conversations and GOTV efforts

My last recommendation is related to the big picture of what's next, and two things are on my mind. First, and related to immediate human connection, as parents, friends, community members, family members, we need to keep talking. This doesn't even feel like politics anymore. These are human issues and having conversations driven by human issues and values we share is where we need to start. We need to encourage dialogue, be open to conversation, and share facts. We also need to raise a better next generation. Kids are seeing things that are totally the opposite of the characteristics they often told to hold—basics such as kindness, compassion, compromise—and they need to know that this is not okay and that we are working together towards something better.

And second, we need to work on the bigger get out the vote situation. The day after the election, Fair Fight posted communications from its CEO that left me speechless. Here's an excerpt from their post.

"As the final numbers come in, keep in mind something that won't get much coverage. It looks like some 60 million Americans who are registered voters opted not to vote this year—something we need to start to truly examine if we are to win a pro-freedom governing majority in this country.”

On Election Day, I escorted someone to the polls who had not voted in 17 years. And after seeing this 60 million number, I was really thinking, “Okay, how are we going to step into the ring to scale getting registered voters out to the polls?” That is the big work to be done. But there's a lot we can do in our immediate sphere of influence while we figure this out.