Election Time!

Tomorrow is the presidential election. We will have a new president in 2025 who some will hate and others will love. (We live in a polarizing time, and so to that end, I am using polarizing language.) The United States will either flourish and shine or die a horrible death and become unrecognizable. Celebrations will abound, or riots will spout up like popcorn in an air fryer.  This is what the news is telling us, depending on which aisle you tend to lean. So on Wednesday morning, or three weeks from  now when it's decided, your fate will be laid out for you. Except it won't. Because elections are about politics, and while they have consequences for sure, they do not determine how you decide to move forward. It was only four short years ago that the pandemic changed the world, our lives and our health, and sometimes, unfortunately, our friendships and family relationships. And what happened? We got through it and moved on and life became more normal. It's just what happens and what history has shown us over and over again.

I remember telling an anxious client during the pandemic that the news will never tell us that Mrs Magill baked a pie for Mr and Mrs Jones after the loss of their beloved pet Peanut. Why? Because news has to sell. And that story, even though it may really have a lasting relational outcome just isn't interesting enough. Don Henley wrote a great song in 1982 called "Dirty Laundry". Google it. The lyrics are timely and true. Here is a snippet:

"We got a bubble headed bleach blonde, comes on at five,
She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye.I
It's interesting when people die, Give us dirty laundry."

We have to remember that all of the media wants to grab our attention, and we all tend to gravitate towards the negative. There are actual studies that show that our brains seek out the negative and try to focus on what is wrong. And so we lose focus on what is good and noble and kind. And polarizing language and behavior is none of that. The news rarely brings us any of that.

I am not trying to make light of people's real anxiety about the election. I have some myself. What I do want us to remember is that we have a choice in how we behave and think and move forward when all is said and done. I bet I'm not alone in saying I lost a friend because of politics, and I find that tragic because politics doesn't define us (or shouldn't). You are not defined by your politics. You are designed to be a relational person, loving deeply and being loved.  And you get to choose how you live and love others after the election, regardless of outcome.. And you get to choose how you will move on after November 5th, 2024.

I feel pretty confident that in a year's time (and more accurately, a week's or month's time) we will be back to normal. We will tolerate, like or dislike the new president, because that is what we tend to do. And life will go on, and we will find our equilibrium, and we will find that politics truly falls back to the backdrop of our daily lives. I know that some of you are really scared. I do and I feel that pain with you. And, as someone who has seen a lot of life (and has the dyed gray hairs to prove it), history repeats itself. Every generation has a Trump/Harris moment, and lived to tell the tale. Don't forget, the news serves us daily "dirty laundry." Maybe turn it off for a while. Go outside and listen to stories about the real people in your neighborhood and communities and be inspired.