Election Anxiety 2024
It is a few days before the 2024 election. I’m not sure anyone will read this, but here I am writing (after a hiatus for the past 5 years!). I have had countless sessions with almost all my clients discussing the palpable and collective anxiety over the upcoming presidential election. As I hold space for others, I am holding my own anxiety over what is to come. How are we still here as a nation? How is this election this close?
According to Stress in America (APA, 2024), 69% of U.S. adults reported feeling significant distress due to politics this season. 74% of respondents reported feeling worried that the election results could lead to violence, while 56% of respondents fear that the election could be the end of democracy. These are some dire statistics that reflect the state of the nation as we collectively hold our breath and wait for November 5th.
To offer my patients hope means that I, too, need to have some semblance of something to hold onto. I’ve had to go back to what I know works during these times of uncertainty. It feels a little bit like deja vu from 2016. But here we are again.
What I’ve been telling my patients:
Focus on what’s in your control. It is easy to get swept up by what we cannot control. The negative rhetoric, viral news clips, the latest news from swing states. When we focus on the things out of our control, our anxiety naturally starts to rev up. It is important to acknowledge these things are real and happening, and…we can take a step back and see the larger picture. What’s actually in our control? What can we action today, right now? This leads to my next point.
Go back to the basics. Each person has a limit to how much they can take in, and how much they can do in a given day. I remind my patients frequently to “go back to the basics”. Are you eating enough? Are you hydrating throughout the day? Are you getting some form of physical exercise in? Are you getting some sunshine? Are you prioritizing sleep and rest? These ‘basic’ tasks are essential when we are holding such stress and anxiety and go a long way in helping us sustain during these uncertain times.
Limit social media and news. I think this goes without saying, but reminders can be helpful. What we intake via social media lingers in the back of our minds, feeds our anxiety, and can lead to endless doom-scrolling well past our bedtime (or take you out of the present moment with others). Make a plan to end your social media use by a certain time. Add in screen time parameters on your phone settings. Use the app one sec (or similar ones) to create a pause before getting to Instagram/TikTok etc.
Pick your battles. It is not worth it to get into arguments with people who are set in their ways, even if they are family members. Think about the limited energy you have, and where you want to put it today. We still have a few days left before the election, where do you want your time and energy to go? Remember that every person only gets one vote, and each vote counts. Perhaps you are “canceling out” your family member/friend’s vote. That is something. And remember that voting down the ballot has significant local consequences.
Living in the dialectic of radical hope. This election cycle is hardly a choice between “good and evil”. There are plenty of critiques for both candidates, and much to be desired, especially if you are a person who has been systemically marginalized because of the identities you hold. I like to remember the philosophy of Radical Hope from psychoanalyst Jonathan Lear - “a unique hope that persists in the face of profound adversity and cultural devastation”. To live in radical hope means to acknowledge the reality of today, and to recognize the possibility of a different future. Author Rebecca Solnit writes, “Hope just means another world might be possible, not promised, not guaranteed. Hope calls for action…” Living in this place requires an ability to tolerate uncertainty and the discomfort that comes with that. It is a tall order, but one that is possible. Living with radical hope turns us back to point number one - what is in your control? What is actionable today?
Remember that you are not alone. As I wrote earlier, the current circumstance we find ourselves in is reminiscent of 2016. At that time, I was living and working in New York City, and I remember the day after the election felt like a punch in the gut. I felt scared, disillusioned, shocked, and angry. On the way home on the 4 going back to Brooklyn, I saw something in the subway that reminded me that others were also feeling the grief I was feeling. Through this “subway therapy” of post-it notes scattered throughout each station, we anonymously yet collectively found each other and felt one another’s grief, pain, anxiety, and despair. But we knew we weren’t alone. Find your people. Have a post-election plan, regardless of the outcome.
My hope is that we do not fail this “test of democracy”. Instead, we learn how to disagree with respect and dignity; and we are able to move forward as a nation. I am holding onto my own radical hope today. In the words of Hamilton (the musical), History has its eyes on us.