How To (Almost) Feel Good About The Election Result
To say the last few months have been tumultuous is like saying, ‘I don’t want to get in a large bath tub full of starving bull sharks with my testicles dipped in fish guts’ – it’s fairly obvious.
And when the big day arrived the Democratic support melted faster than a polar ice cap with tens of millions of people refusing to get off their asses and cast their vote.
If you had the right to vote and you didn’t exercise that right because you didn’t like either of the two main candidates, you really shouldn’t complain.
I’m an open book.
I value free health care and free education. I may be a pinko-commie-bedwetter, but I really like the thought of an educated, healthy country.
Equally, I really don’t think a US Military that is spending more than the next nine countries combined (including Russia, China and the UK) needs rebuilding. It’s kind of already built unless you have plans to invade Uranus.
I got fed up of the constant stream of bullshit pouring from the 45th President’s mouth without any need for decency, honesty or humility, but so what?
I couldn’t vote, and even if I could have, he won Florida by such a margin that he wasn’t going to be impacted by the voice or vote of an angry dude with pasty skin and a strange accent.
Yes he lost the popular vote and he got less than one-third of eligible Americans voting for him, but them’s the breaks
It’s done now, so no whining (and yes I am aiming that at myself too!).
Life goes on and there’s always a positive side to focus on, if that is, you’re prepared to look for it.
I got a great e-mail from a Life Coach attending the current Coach the Life Coach training.
She was distraught at the result and wanted help reframing it, not just from me, but also the people on the course.
The cool thing about reframing is that it is scientifically proven to rewire our brain in a good way.
You can lower your stress levels and increase your happiness all without spending any money or leaving the comfort of your own head.
It never means changing the event, that would be delusional, merely the way you view it.
There was nothing I could have said to myself that could have changed the fact that Trump won the election.
As such, it was incumbent on me to change how I was looking at things if I was to stop feeling so down and despondent.
I have to admit I had been a very naughty Life Coach and hadn’t thought of reframing things prior to then, so I immediately took up the challenge and came up with ten reframes in ten minutes or so.
- At least unlike Brexit it’s not permanent and you guys can throw him out in four years if he acts like a tool
- We know the system isn’t rigged
- Kate Brown, the first member of the LGBTQ community was elected Governor in Oregon
- It may wake up the center and left in France to the very real possibility of Nationalist nut-job Marie Le Pen taking power in May
- Pot heads are happy. Well at least the ones who can remember what happened
- It’s exposed the fact that this country still contains millions of racists. You cannot deal with a problem if you cannot see it
- The Republicans didn’t get to 60 seats in the Senate giving them the power to push through any bill they wanted
- North Carolina said ‘no’ to anti-transgender discrimination and voted in Roy Cooper
- The election is over
- I can go back to the UK and you can all come with me if you like?
Others on the course added their reframes too and all of a sudden I din’t feel so bad.
If you’re struggling to come to terms with the election result, take the time out to think of one killer reframe that can blunt your disappointment. Then please do me a favor and share it in the comments so we can all benefit.
In one word Tim…. “Fuuuuuuuck!”
How I have managed to reframe this situation is this way… When President Obama was first elected to the office of POTUS, well before actually, all of the racial tones rose to the surface of the skin, just like toxins do in boil. And those toxins, festering in the boil, have been there the past 8 years.
Well, the event of last week essentially popped said boil with racial and prejudicial yuck squirting out everywhere… blood, pus, and god knows what else is now out, visible and undeniable.
I think the US has been quite delusional in our perception of our evolution as a “hate free” and more tolerant society especially when it comes to race, religion, sexuality, etc… We thought we were further along than what we were. So this event, in my mind, has not set us back but has really forced us all to look and see what really is and what has ALWAYS been there. We now have a new awareness of our situation which is more accurate.
The upside… awareness is the first step in change and transformation. Now that we know as a country that we truly do have an equality challenging issue… well, now we can fix it… hopefully… and progress forward towards total social acceptance of whatever…
That is just one of the “reframes” that I have done… trust me… countless hours of cognitive gymnastics this past week for me just to function and try to be normal.
I really do not like to make this comparison but I have read it elsewhere so I am not alone. It feels a lot like I remember the shock of 9-11 felling in 2001. The bad part is that it is different as I am feeling that now but in reality, the event (his actual swearing in) hasn’t even happened yet!
As for everything else that I feel about it all… just read my first sentence again… :)
I think the US has been quite delusional in our perception of our evolution as a “hate free” and more tolerant society especially when it comes to race, religion, sexuality, etc… We thought we were further along than what we were. So this event, in my mind, has not set us back but has really forced us all to look and see what really is and what has ALWAYS been there. We now have a new awareness of our situation which is more accurate.
I couldn’t agree more with this. I think this *may* be like being told you have an abscess and need a root canal, but the dentist is all out of anasthetic. To begin with it’s going to hurt a lot more, but over time you’ll be glad you went through it.
Fuuuuuuuck indeed!
Exactly! Exactly… it’s gotta get worse before it can bet better… Have a great day Tim!
I’m totally fed up now. I think Hillary is a female and this is the main reason for her failure. If she wasn’t she, the result may be positive for Hillary. In ‘merica girls are f***ing toys only.
Don’t mind, please.
Wish you all the best.
Well Mr Motivational Speaker Seattle (a very strange name indeed, I hope you have talked to your parents about it), I’m not sure I agree.
It’s an easy out to think that, but I think it goes much deeper. Not saying that didn’t sway some people, but I think it was down the list of reasons Trump won.
If she’d never had the e-mail issues she’d have won, and she’d still have been a woman.
This has mobilized people of all ages to start grass-roots organizing to make ensure protection from, and awareness of harm to various marginalized groups.
I have just spent a 3-day weekend with a group of Alchemical healers and we are working on these and other projects.
My 27 year son and his friends (techies) have started researching ways to volunteer and donate money to supporting the ideals on the Democratic platform.
I was in NYC on Wednesday. It was kinda like an Irish wake without the alcohol – dismal. BUT – people were reaching out, in kindness, strangers were consoling and hugging one another. It was beautiful and life-affirming.
Massachusetts is close to NYC. (legal!)
Yes I fully agree with that. I don’t ever remember a time when so many people seemed so energized in a common course, not even during the darkest times under Thatcher.
Hopefully it will be channeled and maintained in a good way!
How’s this for a reframing: The farther the Republicans set us back, the less progressives (by which I mean anyone who prefers a politics of love and hope to one of hate and fear) in future contests will be beholden to any status quo. We’ll have space to build a bigger vision and a broader movement.
Nice!
Tim- Great post Hope we don’t lose you to the UK.
Here are a few:
-Democrats may nominate someone who is more than just qualified, but is actually inspirational
-3rd parties may rise because the 2 major parties and getting more and more extreme
-both sides wake up to the impact of technology and global trade on (angry) workers
Thanks Rob and nice reframes. I don’t hold out much hope for 3rd parties but we can hope!
Thanks Rob and nice reframes. I don’t hold out much hope for 3rd parties but we can hope!