How are we feeling today after the initial shock has gone?

I feel like this has been the longest, darkest week ever. It's been rainy, overcast, sundown is VERY early now and my DD has been fighting with everyone on Facebook. I awoke with a headache today so i just cancelled my dentist appt.

I might be being a little dramatic here (it has been known) but I actually feel like a little bit of hope has gone out of the world.

I think this is how I am feeling. Shell-shocked still but ready to just get the next step over-with and move forward! 

I LOVED her speech yesterday, and bawled all the way through it. But, I don't think we've heard the last of her.  I think she has big things happening and it just wasn't time for her to be in the White House just yet, but it will still happen. Just a feeling I have... 

I've stayed away from social media for the most part till last night after the initial wave of gloating from some of my "friends".  I've muted several as it's gotten closer to the election and muted a few more last night. I'll give it that 30 days and then if they haven't settled down I'll be cleaning house and deleting.  I just can't deal with all of that on top of the destruction of my personal world. 

I also have two young adult daughters (one just turned 18 & voted for the first time!) so I've been doing damage control with them. They know this is all upsetting to me too but I have to be the strong & encouraging one for them, even if my heart is broken in a million pieces and I'm scared sh!tless about the future of our lives. 

We can take some time to grieve and process but now more than ever we need to keep up the fight.  That was Harris' "theme" yesterday in her speech, and she was right.  We can't just hold our breaths and pray we make it through the next 4 years, we have to fight through it and do whatever we can to make sure that he doesn't break our spirit completely. 

My 22 yo daughter is one of the most rational levelheaded people I know, so when she spoke out against dump, I knew I wasn’t crazy. Yesterday I was going to my room to craft and told her if she needed me that’s where I would be. (She recently had wisdom teeth surgery). She texts me this: “I know, it sucks having him in office a second time, but at least he never will be again. I hope the dnc learns from their huge mistakes this year and things will be better in 2028”. It gave me hope. I think of the quote, “be the change you wish to see in the world”. So I’m supporting my other child through gender reassignment, planning to go to pride events, looking into volunteering at the polls. Anything I can do to make a difference and lead my kids by example because they are all pretty damn special. Some of my favorite LGBTQIA accounts on Instagram have had good ideas as well amd bring me hope.

I’m not weepy today but I avoided the news all day yesterday and probably will for a while. I can deal better with reading than seeing his orange face on tv. Still I am not in a place to be friendly to certain people so I am keeping away. Yesterday My DH drove to our favorite bakery and picked up some pastries. I didn’t even realize he had left the house but it was a sweet attempt at making me feel better.

It sounds like you are raising 2 amazing human beings. This gives me so much hope for the future!

I'm pretty much sticking my head in the sand. I'm avoiding the news.

I did see an poll about how much the transgender issue affected peoples votes and it was a lot. Like maybe 85%? It's ridiculous for an issue that affects very few people. Apparently the Trump commercials about boys in girls bathrooms was very effective. What is interesting is THAT is the topic my mom's neighbor brought up when he visited her yesterday. He's a wonderful human being, so I was really surprised he was a Trump supporter.

How am I feeling?  sh!tty, actually.  Haven't slept good for at least the past week.  This morning I woke up and it took me a couple seconds to remember.  UGH.  Grief? Disbelief? Disgust? I can't even name all the feelings.  And sadly, some of those feelings are for my DH and other people who I know voted for the oligarchy-in-the-making... which has contributed to my sh!tty mood.  Rethinking relationships I've had for over 20 years - and some of them my close family members- is NOT a good place to be. 

(and I'm a middle-aged, white, college-educated women with no children... I can't even imagine how other people must be feeling.)

Honestly, I’m exhausted. After four years of his first shitshow, followed by four more years of his stupid rallies and constantly being in the news and on tv, followed by the thought of having to listen to his stupid voice and see his stupid face and wake up wondering what crazy stupid shit transpired overnight for the next four years, I’m so over all of it. I’m tired of the gaslighting and lies and cannot believe so many stupid people willingly volunteered for four more years of that.

The only good news is he’s old and can’t run again. The bad news is even if he drops dead we’re stuck with Vance who is just as bad, maybe even worse, and not old. Sigh. I don’t know how I can wake up with that weighted feeling of existential dread in my chest every.freaking.day. for the next four years. I feel like for the sake and safety of my kid and her friends that I care about, I can’t disengage and I have to stay vigilant which means I can’t really walk away from hearing about it, seeing it or reading about it.

The loss of the Senate and possibly the House too makes it all so, so much worse knowing that he can and will force so much unnecessary pain on so many people. 

I’m glad we invested in solar panels this year and will get the energy rebate while we can. I’m glad for whatever small amount of respite the last 3+ years brought. My DH didn’t vote for him but was happy the stock market was up yesterday. I told him to enjoy it while he can before the tariffs and resulting inflation hit. TBH, I think the thing to do is wait a bit for the peak and totally cash out before he crashes the economy. Again.

I deleted my Twitter. I am not watching the news at all. I have to create a space that doesn’t involve him. I am struggling dealing with how to be with family members who have voted for him. They are so caught up in the Newsmax cycle that they have replaced reality with fiction. It really hit me hard the last couple days that this really is a cult. They’ve been fed propaganda for years and refuse to believe facts are in fact true.

I feel like when we recover from this (I have to keep that hope) that we will look back on this time in history with disbelief.

I have never seen a man so able to cause division in my lifetime. My friends and I discussed if he will be replaced by another such person when he is gone or if this is just a one time thing. J.D. Vance doesn’t have the same likability so I don’t think he could continue on as the next MAGA superstar.

Anyway, we will get through this. There are 24 months left until the midterms. I have started setting crafting, reading and other goals for the next 24 months as a distraction. Maybe we need a group thread just for this purpose to keep our minds on happy things as we set our sights on hopefully a better time.

Helping my young adult daughters plot their escape. The US in general and Texas specifically doesn't deserve to keep their talented, educated young women.

Thank you! I’m pretty proud of them myself. My oldest isn’t political and has 3 young children that keep her mind elsewhere. But even she texted her siblings yesterday morning to check on them as she knew they would be upset. She’s halfway through her marine sciences degree while raising her babies. Her husband is a POS but I know she’ll leave when she’s good and ready. She’s a strong woman to and I’m very proud of her too.

I feel like if we let hate take over, they’ve won. I mean our country was founded on an uprising. It’s easy to say “I give up” because your heart can’t take it. I told my youngest who is very sensitive to not discuss politics if she can’t handle the backlash that comes with it, but to not give up being who he needs to be and supporting others around him.

You can step back from the storm, but still be a quiet voice of support Shit I wear my pride tshirts on all of our trips and get so many compliments from others. It’s a passive way to show you are safe with me. So I encourage others to think this way.

My husband, on one trip where a bigot aquaintaince was going to be, thought I was wearing it to provoke her into an argument. On that three day trip-10 people came up to me and said they loved my shirt and my son’s pride socks. The bigot said nothing because she’s too afraid to come at me. She’s a cucking coward who hides behind tik toks on Facebook. I told me husbamd-“I don’t wear it to piss her off. I wear it so kids like mine know they are safe in this business conference of magat assholes”. And that proved my point perfectly.

Terrible, stressing that our cancer drug will not go to clinical trials and company will fold. Fuck dump