Neighbor Tuesday: Election Day
Waiting is hard =)
I had a post written for today, but then I couldn’t figure out how to say what I wanted to say. I totally recognize that this election is weighty for so many of you in very real ways. I get that. Many of you are carrying lots of angst today. Tomorrow (if we know the election results) has real-life ramifications for many of you. I get that.
So, I was struggling on how to say…something. And decided to delete it all and try again.
Because I think what many of us need today is a space to rest or hope or both. Many of you have voted, campaigned, walked, talked, canvassed, debated, volunteered, donated, and everything else in between. And you did all of it while being a neighbor. And neighboring is hard work.
So, today, can I encourage you to turn off the news for a bit.
The news can wait until tomorrow and social media can wait until 10 years from now (ha! just kidding, not kidding). Don’t feed your soul with 24/7 news today. Don’t respond to your 3rd cousin’s post on social media about whatever. Better yet, don’t read social media posts today (or for a month). You won’t miss anything if you take a break. Let your nervous system rest a bit. Unclench your hands you didn’t even know were clenched. Take a deep breath. Don’t talk with that co-worker that always wants to bring up politics in unhelpful ways. It’s ok to walk away. Don’t get back to a text from a family member about voting. It’s ok to let it go. If you’re a poll worker today or helping give rides to the polls or passing out water bottles and pizza to those standing in lines, you can take a deep breath too even while you’re working. (And, THANK YOU for doing all of that!)
One of the biggest lessons I learned during the pandemic while trying to live a neighboring life was the power (and necessity) of rest. After a long election season with vitriol rhetoric and fill-in-the-blank-everything-else, maybe you can give yourself permission to rest today however that looks for you. (And, perhaps find laughter or joy or hope as you do.) If you need space to rest, then rest. Let me give you a place where I go to rest. If you’ve read my book, you know my love for Yo-Yo Ma. I open the book with a story of seeing him at an outdoor concert in New York (and what he taught me about neighboring!). So, watch this video for a bit to get some rest and hope today.
Onward we go, neighbors! I hope you can find moments of hope and rest today and this week, even in the midst of clenched hands and waiting. Today, I fly to my last speaking engagement of the year and am walking through the day with hope, my “I voted” button, and some anxiety (because it’s 2024 and election day). But mainly going through today as a neighbor by neighboring. And looking for pockets of hope along the way.
And, you better believe I’m watching Steve Kornacki tonight! His love for data and margins of error and probabilities match mine for all-things-epidemiology! I don’t watch the news during an election season, but I definitey watch Steve on election night. ha!
-Emily
Thank you!!!