Navigating Election Anxiety: Coping Strategies and Staying Hopeful in Uncertain Times

Transcript

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If 50% of people who stayed home in 2020 would have showed up that are registered as Democrats, ohio would have went blue.

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That's insane to me, yep.

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So I think that whole thing changed my perspective on like I don't have to go out there and try to convince anybody who thinks Donald Trump is like Lord Jesus and Savior.

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Welcome back to the United.

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She Stands podcast, the show that brings kindness and women into politics.

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I'm Ashley.

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And I'm Sarah, and we're two women from Ohio who are here to become more educated about American politics and build a community so we can all get involved and make an impact together.

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We hope we'll inspire and empower you along the way.

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Hello, hello, hello.

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United she Stands.

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Listeners, welcome back to another episode of your favorite podcast.

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Sorry for making that assumption, but actually, no, I'm not sorry at all.

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So for this episode, we're going to take a step back from ringing the alarms about our democracy being in danger and talk about feelings.

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Yay, I'm sure we have some eye rollers right now, but these conversations are just as important as the ones we've been having about how to fight like hell for our freedoms this November.

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Today we're going to focus on how to deal with anxiety and fear this election season.

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We know we're all feeling it, and this was actually a request from a listener, so shout out to Natalie for the idea.

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This one's for you.

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But before we get, rolling Ash and I do have to share some sad news with y'all Neither of us are drinking today Just H2O.

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Tonight Some H2O with some frozen H2O that's ice, Thank you.

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Sarah, I'm sure no one got it Okay, so let's get started.

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We'll start off with the USS Classic.

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A definition what is election anxiety?

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Okay, so it includes anything from stressors about the election outcome to nerves generated by combative campaign rhetoric.

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So cool.

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Now that we have it covered, let's move on to a vibe check.

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How are we feeling, sarah, just in general, how are you feeling about the election in november?

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okay.

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So I feel like we should time stamp this or date stamp this.

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It is July 30th, so we are at the point where Biden has stepped out of the race and endorsed Kamala Harris.

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I'm fucking pumped and I know there's still so much fighting left to do.

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But, like this episode idea came about probably three weeks ago, maybe a month ago, where things were very different, looking for the party that I would like to see in office, and I'm honestly feeling immensely better.

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But I know that also has to do with the accounts I follow, the people I surround myself with.

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We're all really pumped and I'm not seeing a lot of.

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I mean, I am seeing, like, the backlash and the negative negativity around Kamala, and you know what the haters are saying and what the Trumpers are saying and whatnot.

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But, um, I still feel like most of what I surround myself with, both like media wise and person wise, are people who are aligned with my views and are also pumped about Kamala.

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But, all that to say, I'm feeling better.

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I'm trying not to be naive and I know there's a big fight between now and then.

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I think what?

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98 days or something like that.

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So I don't know.

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Did that answer your question, ash?

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Yeah, I feel like, since you kind of talked more about the, now I'll talk about the roller coaster.

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That was July, maybe do it.

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Um so, july, I don't even know what July started with, cause I feel like three years of news and current event, like things happened in like the span of 10 days in July, right.

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So we had obviously the debate, which was disastrous, and I think all of us were feeling like I will generally speak for almost all of America except like, maybe, hardcore Trumpers, when we can say, like we were just sad, like that was a pitiful display of like who we were, who was one of those two men were going to be one of our next elected leaders, like I remember my dad texting me, like I'm just sad for like America, like and that was a very good summary of exactly, I think, how a lot of people felt.

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Of course, then came all these calls for Biden to step down and like, of course, we were like monitoring that news and watching that play out, which, like, by the way, changed daily, I feel like.

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For like a week and a half straight, it was like Biden's definitely stepping down any hour now, next day, nah, he's not going to.

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Next day.

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Oh, he's talking with his family.

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He's going to step down.

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That was a roller coaster in itself, yeah, and even like the week leading up to that weekend, because it was like people calling for it and he was being so headstrong and being like no, which just made me like disappointed in him.

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Yeah, personally, like, I think Biden has been a good president.

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I think he will be remembered as being a good president.

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I appreciate a lot of the policies and stuff he's implemented.

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So, you know, I was just disappointed.

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I thought he was a guy who put country first and so to ultimately see him get there, I was very happy with that.

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But for the time in between, I was like just just disappointed in his response to to the questioning of like was he up for the job?

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But anyway, so yes.

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Then when the weekend comes, where it's like leading up to that weekend, it's like he's going to step down.

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He's going to step down, he's going to step down his campaign, still saying no, he's not, no, he's not, no, he's not, I don't know.

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Just like probably not healthy.

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Also, in between all of this, an assassination attempt happens on Donald Trump, which, of course, same thing glued to phones right Like media trying to read news.

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Biden steps down 30 minutes later.

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Endorses Kamala Harris.

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I mean, just like a roller coaster.

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So, Sarah, to sum it all up, I was in very not a good place with this election.

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I feel like I was very discouraged, as I think many people were.

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But the fresh blood in the Democratic Party, I am very pumped as well.

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But I'm also trying to be realistic and being really like realistic with myself on what can I do between now and November to feel like I have done everything I can and like, no matter what happens November, I'll know that I did everything I could, regardless of that outcome.

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Hopefully it's the outcome we want, um, but you know, I know like I won't be able to live with myself having to look my son in the face one day and tell him like I didn't help.

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Stop Donald Trump, you know, if it comes to that.

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So yeah, it's been a ride and it's only July 30.

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So we'll see how it goes from here.

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Yeah, no, I think that's a great perspective, though, because it's so easy to get lost in the sauce, especially with just the media and you know the clickbait titles and just it's so easy to get lost in the anxiety and the fear of what's going to happen and being overwhelmed by like oh, I want to help, but like oh, this is just so much bigger than me.

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But I think the focus on what you can do and just being staying grounded in that way which we're kind of going into our next question here but I think that's like a great way to look at it because, realistically, at the end of the day, win or lose for Kamala like you can only do what you can do and that's like what you should be focusing on.

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So I love that.

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So, okay, like I said, we kind of answered some of this, but just in case we missed anything, have you been doing anything personally to stay grounded and manage any anxiety or fear around the election and do you want to commit to doing anything differently, like stop doom scrolling, spend X amount of time reading about politics per day, et cetera?

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Yeah, so yeah, I mean I kind of just touched on like focusing on what I can do, but I can talk a little bit about what I actually am doing.

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So every single day, assuming it's not raining out, I will be outside walking because I have to be like, if I'm going to mentally make it through between now and November and that's just like not even election season, that's just like normal for me I just have to like get outside and do something active.

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I think you know most people find that to be helpful.

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So I've been focusing on making sure every day I'm getting a walk, like it gets written on my to do list and it has to happen.

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And then, as far as consuming news goes, oh, it's so hard to like.

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I think most people are like, oh, I can check it, but I can't be constantly checking it.

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Just obviously, with what we do with the podcast, you know it's like, it's like oh, but we should be super informed.

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And we are super informed, but that doesn't mean like you have to be constant on your phone.

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So I try to limit that Doom scrolling is.

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I don't know if it's been doom lately.

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The internet's been a fun place.

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I've been spending way too much time scrolling.

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So yeah, I'm trying to kind of rein all that in, but I would say the number one thing I do is just really like make sure I get outside at some point in the day or some type of physical activity.

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And what about you?

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Yeah, I love that.

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I'm also very big on moving my body at some point during the day.

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That's even pre-election, that's just for normal anxiety.

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That's like my number one reason actually for working out is for the mental health benefits.

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So definitely plus one to that.

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But personally, I am trying to like talk to myself more, and what I mean by that is like talk myself down, because I get very fired up very easily.

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I'm a very passionate person.

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If you have listened to more than two episodes of this podcast, you know that and if you know me on any sort of level, you know that as well.

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So I just get like very fired up, very, you know, quick to react and not think.

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And actually, ashley, you helped me so much with this because, like, I'll text you about something or I'll send you something I see on Instagram and be like, oh my God, what this is crazy, the world's ending.

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And you'll be like, well, that's not like super realistic, because X, y and Z.

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I'm like, oh my God, like Ashley's so grounded and so smart, like amazing.

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So like I'm just trying to be better, check my.

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I'm just trying to check myself more before I like go down a rabbit hole or a spiral and just try to like, breathe and be like okay, you know, how valid is this?

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How realistic is this?

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Is me freaking out about it going to change anything?

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What can I do to change it?

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You know things like that.

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So, just talking to myself, more like I said and kind of along the same lines, just trying to be better at recognizing BS in the media or the you know the article titles that really try to get me riled up because I am their perfect reader.

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I will get riled up by a stupid, you know little comment.

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So, yeah, just trying to be more cognizant of that.

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Yeah, yeah, that's good.

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Yeah, I just want to say I was not always so grounded, sarah, and I still absolutely do get worked up, so you're not alone.

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I think the thing that probably works me up the most is just Donald Trump in general, because he's just such an awful human.

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He's a liar, he's a cheater All the things we already know about him, right and so the fact that good people, sane people, somehow I don't know I'll call it are in this trap with him.

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I just I can't wrap my head around that.

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Like it logically doesn't make sense, and I I can kind of quickly get fired up about that, so I really tried to just honestly avoid that.

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And something that recently has helped me is I've seen some data around the fact that like it's not that there's more Trump supporters out there than there are non-Trump supporters, it's that people don't show up and vote, which is actually mind-blowing to me, but that is what the data has shown.

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I've seen two different people with data specifically for the state of Ohio that, basically, if just like 50% of registered Democrats that didn't vote and these are just people registered these are not even people who like are, you know, not ready to vote or something.

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They are registered to vote.

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They are able, they can vote.

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If 50% of people who stayed home in 2020 would have showed up that are registered as Democrats, ohio would have went blue.

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That's insane to me, yep.

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So I think that whole thing changed my perspective on like I don't have to go out there and try to convince anybody who thinks Donald Trump is like Lord, jesus and savior.

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All I have to do is get normal saying people out there to vote, like people who look at this man and know that he's a horrible leader.

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People who look at this man and know he's a criminal and a liar.

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And like people who just have general morals that say, like no person is above the law.

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No person like this should be leading our country.

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We wouldn't let them lead our classrooms.

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We wouldn't let them lead.

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You know all the things we always talk about.

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So when I reframe it like that, I'm like I don't have to convince any one of these people.

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All I have to do is get everyone else out there to vote, and that really has helped me, and then, like go back to something else I'm doing.

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I signed up to knock on doors and that has been like I just feel really good.

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After doing that, I'm like I'm out there, I'm making a difference.

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Everything we've learned and read says like door knocking is one of the most effective things to get people out to vote.

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So just you know, taking steps like that to do my part, like I said, is really really like what keeps me kind of grounded throughout this whole thing.

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Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the thing about people just not voting, because I think I first heard that in the white woman for Kamala call and I was like I think we were texting about it.

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We were like whoa, that's crazy, and that is such a good way to think about it or a good thing to keep you grounded and because, like it's, that's so much easier than thinking about changing a Trumper's mind.

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You know what I mean.

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Like that is so much easier.

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Like let's, let's just start requesting our absentee ballots folks.

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Like let's do it now.

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Like let's just start making our voting plan now is really what it comes down to, yeah exactly Okay.

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So let's move on here.

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We'd love to tell you, guys that we have all the answers to magically take away all of your negative feelings and anxieties, but unfortunately we don't.

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What we do have are several pieces of advice that could help you channel that energy into something good, helpful and productive.

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So, first things first.

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I'm the realist.

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I'm just kidding.

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If you caught that joke.

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I love you.

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Okay, first things first.

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It's in our best interest to get more comfortable with the unknown.

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We've already been shown this election season that literally anything can happen, and there's still a few months to go before the election for literally anything else to happen.

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Exactly.

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The only constant in life is change.

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Okay, so second, you can also get involved with a campaign or a social cause which can give you a sense of agency and make you feel like you're contributing or working towards a goal.

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Getting involved, volunteering or encouraging others to get out and vote, like we talked about, are all great ways to help and can give you back a sense of control.

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Third and this may sound obvious, but it's hard in practice.

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But it's okay to shut off the news for a bit the 24-7 access to information, combined with no possible way to address it all, can cause some or a lot of spiraling.

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So it's really important to take a step back from that every now and then.

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Like Ash said, her daily walks or some sort of physical activity, whether that's just like stretching or doing some yoga, you don't even have to break a sweat, just move your body, get some fresh air, take a deep breath, reconnect with nature.

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You know anything like that.

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So, and one piece of advice and I don't know if Ashley listens to this, but when you are seeking that break from the media and the political craziness of the world right now and you go for a walk, don't listen to a political podcast while you're doing so.

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You're defeating the purpose.

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So actually take a break from the media and all of this craziness.

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Throw on your favorite music if you want to listen to something on your break, but please don't try to knock out one of the podcasts in your saved episodes.

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But if you do pick ours, okay, okay, you're right, you're right, we'll allow it.

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No, sorry, I don't typically listen to political podcasts.

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Every once in a while I will queue up like a Civics 101, but that's really not like partisan political, it's more just like educational Right.

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What do you listen to when you work out or like, or being physical, doing physical activity?

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So I take cycle classes.

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So the music is laid out for me, but I do also like to do lunch walks most of the week, and I am the biggest hypocrite in the world.

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I can't believe you asked me this question, ash, because I literally.

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Listen.

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You listen to Pantsy Politics while you walk, don't you?

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Yeah, I listened to one right before recording this.

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Yeah, no, it's dumb and I am, I'm, I'm doing the whole.

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Do as I say, not as I do.

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That's where I got the idea to throw that piece in this episode, because I'm like I'm so bad at this and look at me.

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I was pointing fingers at you but also if you're psych, like you're doing your cycle without it.

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So I feel like, yeah, I feel like that's allowed yeah, you know, see, it's yeah, it's not like the only time I can get a break from it.

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It's like, oh, like I'm gonna take a walk because I want a break from work and like I actually feel energized enough to listen to this political podcast and if I don't, I'll listen to like we can do hard things, but with gl Glennon Doyle, or I'll listen to Headspace.

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They have a which is a meditation app.

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They have a really great weekly podcast at answering listener questions.

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So like I do have some other like more chill, more non-political podcast options as well.

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You're going to die when I tell you what my go-to listen is on a walk.

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Is it your fairy porn?

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yes, is it really?

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Yeah, there's a fantasy fangirl podcast and they cover like yeah, so it calls a fairy for they cover fantasy romance books, uh, and they're doing like recently they've been doing deep dives into, like my favorite series ever so our episodes are like two and a half hour long.

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They cover like walks for me almost like at least half the week, sometimes longer.

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So I was gonna say how do you even?

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like if no, I don't, it's, it's broken up over multiple hours, but anyway, I just knew you would enjoy that.

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Okay, anyway, we're moving on, sorry guys, down the rabbit hole here.

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Our last piece of advice here is around hyper-partisanship Designating people with differing viewpoints as the other in quotes.

00:18:24.969 --> 00:18:26.599
There it's easier to dehumanize and attack them, creating further division.

00:18:26.599 --> 00:18:35.872
Try to remember any shared aims and goals you may have with people who disagree with you, like the safety of your loved ones, access to education, healthcare and jobs, etc.

00:18:35.872 --> 00:18:39.080
And we know that is so much easier said than done.

00:18:39.080 --> 00:18:42.770
So just something to keep in mind and try to get better at all the time.

00:18:43.460 --> 00:18:47.009
Yeah, as we were just talking about Trumpers at the beginning of this episode.

00:18:47.009 --> 00:18:50.744
Ha ha ha Again, do as we say, not as we do.

00:18:50.744 --> 00:18:53.009
We're all.

00:18:53.009 --> 00:18:54.252
We're all just a work in progress.

00:18:54.252 --> 00:18:56.766
We are exactly so.

00:18:56.766 --> 00:19:01.125
We also wanted to share some highlights from an article by Sharon Says so on Instagram.

00:19:01.125 --> 00:19:19.167
She is also known online as America's Government Teacher, and she has a newsletter that Ashley and I are both subscribed to, and this specific article really helped us stay grounded and keep things in perspective through this wait for it unprecedented time, and we hope it'll do the same for you.

00:19:19.167 --> 00:19:27.905
So on July 22nd, the day after Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Kamala Harris, she wrote about the three things she knows right now.

00:19:28.446 --> 00:19:30.392
The first one is that apprehension is normal.

00:19:30.392 --> 00:19:40.030
It does not mean that the world is falling apart, even though you know I don't know being like however old we are, it feels like every year something crazy happens in our life and the world's falling apart.

00:19:40.030 --> 00:19:41.053
But it's not.

00:19:41.053 --> 00:19:47.353
The framers of the Constitution had loads of apprehension because they didn't know if their experiment of democracy would even work out.

00:19:47.353 --> 00:19:50.809
It's the normal human response to experience something new and unknown.

00:19:50.809 --> 00:19:54.470
If this is how you feel, it's really okay and it's totally normal.

00:19:55.063 --> 00:20:00.304
The second thing Sharon shared is that tumultuous times generally precede important change.

00:20:00.304 --> 00:20:03.770
This is one I personally really needed to hear.

00:20:03.770 --> 00:20:09.371
This is not the first time shit has hit the fan in our country's history and, quite frankly, it won't be the last.

00:20:09.371 --> 00:20:18.190
Tumultuous times preceded the American Revolution, the end of enslavement and the passage of the 14th Amendment, women's suffrage and the civil rights era.

00:20:18.190 --> 00:20:26.365
All of these times brought important and necessary changes, but it wasn't all rainbows and butterflies getting there.

00:20:26.365 --> 00:20:29.252
There were wars, fights, slavery, the lack of rights, division, etc.

00:20:29.252 --> 00:20:32.606
This period in our history is no different, and better times are coming.

00:20:33.087 --> 00:20:37.231
The third thing our friend Sharon, we wish, but you know we can dream.

00:20:37.231 --> 00:20:43.601
The third thing our friend Sharon knows is that Americans have lived through many unprecedented times and come out on the other side.

00:20:43.601 --> 00:20:49.482
The War of 1812, when the British burned down the White House and the Capitol quite unprecedented, but we made it.

00:20:49.482 --> 00:20:55.602
The Great Depression of the 1930s, two world wars, pearl Harbor, 9-11, all unprecedented.

00:20:55.602 --> 00:20:57.666
Also, we survived as a nation.

00:20:57.666 --> 00:21:00.901
This isn't an exhaustive list of all the unprecedented times.

00:21:00.901 --> 00:21:01.601
Unfortunately.

00:21:01.601 --> 00:21:03.722
We've survived as Americans, but you get the picture.

00:21:03.722 --> 00:21:05.963
The point here is we will make it.

00:21:06.685 --> 00:21:08.794
She closes out the piece by talking about hope.

00:21:08.794 --> 00:21:13.256
We may not feel hope right now, and that's okay, because hopeful isn't a feeling.

00:21:13.256 --> 00:21:16.354
If you're looking for a sign of hopefulness, it may not appear.

00:21:16.354 --> 00:21:17.910
And why not?

00:21:17.910 --> 00:21:19.911
Because hope is a choice.

00:21:19.911 --> 00:21:28.098
That's great news, because we can all choose to be hopeful without waiting for a sign or a good reason or magically waiting for this feeling.

00:21:28.098 --> 00:21:32.436
Alexander Hamilton was fearful at the birth of our country, but he chose to have hope.

00:21:32.436 --> 00:21:39.554
There wasn't any rational evidence that the American experiment was going to work out, but he chose to have hope in our democracy anyway.

00:21:39.554 --> 00:21:46.594
Wouldn't he be so happy to see the experiment still standing today and tomorrow and the day after election day in November?

00:21:46.594 --> 00:21:53.334
We're just humans out here, having normal human emotions about tumultuous times that generally precede important change.

00:21:53.894 --> 00:21:54.856
Sharon is really great.

00:21:54.856 --> 00:21:59.776
Her newsletter is called the Preamble the Preamble.

00:21:59.776 --> 00:22:00.397
Thank you, sarah.

00:22:00.397 --> 00:22:02.633
If you guys want her newsletter is free.

00:22:02.633 --> 00:22:04.932
If you want to support her with a donation, she would love that too.

00:22:04.932 --> 00:22:05.555
That's what she says.

00:22:05.555 --> 00:22:07.211
Anyway, I'm assuming she would love that.

00:22:07.211 --> 00:22:09.471
She is really really informative.

00:22:09.471 --> 00:22:13.067
She's very calm and grounded, like Sarah talked about earlier.

00:22:13.067 --> 00:22:15.393
Like she is very factual.

00:22:15.393 --> 00:22:22.416
She her whole kind of motto is like principle over party, just like we should be principled versus like being committed to a party.

00:22:22.416 --> 00:22:24.990
We really appreciate all the work she does.

00:22:24.990 --> 00:22:30.773
She's very active on Instagram and she always shares like relevant news and just like in a very factual way.

00:22:30.773 --> 00:22:31.936
So anyway, we are big fans.

00:22:31.936 --> 00:22:37.654
If you kind of liked what you just heard there, feel free to go give her a follow or subscribe to her newsletter.

00:22:37.654 --> 00:22:38.557
Okay, sarah.

00:22:38.557 --> 00:22:45.915
So Sharon shared with us that unprecedented times and tumultuous times lead us to change.

00:22:45.915 --> 00:22:49.875
So what kind of important change do you want to see come from these crazy times we're living in?

00:22:49.875 --> 00:22:51.223
Honestly, I want to see come from these crazy times we're living in.

00:22:51.243 --> 00:22:59.259
Honestly, I want to see the end of the Trump era and I want that to lead to less polarization.

00:22:59.259 --> 00:23:03.775
I'm just so ready for this shit to be over.

00:23:03.775 --> 00:23:10.854
I feel like we just haven't been on normal grounds in the political scene since 2016.

00:23:10.854 --> 00:23:15.773
And I'm just, I'm just ready for it to be a little more normal and a little less dramatic.

00:23:16.516 --> 00:23:17.778
Yeah, I totally agree.

00:23:17.924 --> 00:23:26.929
The MAGA faction honestly has to go and I think the only way that happens is if they take a hard hit at the polls this November.

00:23:26.929 --> 00:23:39.106
If they lose hard this November, I mean, the Republican Party has a choice in front of them and obviously, you know, I hope that it is like them finally saying this extremism is no longer part of this party.

00:23:39.106 --> 00:23:44.506
I think just the return to reality is something I really hope comes out of this.

00:23:44.506 --> 00:23:56.898
You know, donald Trump and team, like we've talked about in past episodes, have attacked fact and science and all these things that have made it so we as humans don't even like agree on the same reality around us.

00:23:56.898 --> 00:24:02.750
Like the sky is blue and if Donald Trump said it was purple, then Donald Trump and team would say it's purple and we'd have to be trying to argue with that.

00:24:02.750 --> 00:24:16.421
And so just the return to like normal, sane, rational people in our government, in our campaigns, like I want a debate stage where they actually talk about I don't know, like policy Not beating each other on the golf course?

00:24:16.461 --> 00:24:18.849
Yes, Like just normal, to your point.

00:24:18.849 --> 00:24:21.097
Politics should not be like a TV show.

00:24:21.097 --> 00:24:24.949
I don't want Marjorie Taylor Green to ever be on my TV screen again.

00:24:24.949 --> 00:24:29.117
To be honest, like that kind of politics has to stop.

00:24:29.117 --> 00:24:44.770
Like we just need normal, sane people in there who are not power hungry, who are not doing it for the power grab and just who want to talk about, like, real issues using real data and real facts and real ideas and real policies that can, like actually make our world and our country better.

00:24:44.770 --> 00:24:46.776
So I agree with everything you said.

00:24:46.776 --> 00:24:48.286
I would just add the reality part on.

00:24:48.286 --> 00:24:56.487
I think for me that's my biggest thing is like I would just love to see like normal, sane people that live in reality, people in our offices and on our campaigns.

00:24:56.487 --> 00:25:01.867
Like to actually have choices at the ballot with those kinds of people on it would be just fabulous.

00:25:02.568 --> 00:25:04.752
Retweet, heard, bird plus one.

00:25:04.752 --> 00:25:07.617
All of the above, yes, yes, yes, yes.

00:25:07.617 --> 00:25:10.530
So are you ready to witness the important change?

00:25:10.530 --> 00:25:11.974
Because we are too.

00:25:11.974 --> 00:25:23.021
Oh, and one more thing I already talked about the we Can Do Hard Things podcast earlier, but I do want to end on a specific note that came from one of their episodes.

00:25:23.021 --> 00:25:32.178
So this is a podcast hosted by Glennon Doyle, abby Wambach and Amanda Doya one of the best podcasts ever after ours, of course.

00:25:32.178 --> 00:25:38.657
But they recently had Jessica Yellen on, and she is a political expert and founder of News, not Noise.

00:25:38.657 --> 00:25:43.567
She shared something that I thought might be helpful for this episode and, like I said, a good note to end on.

00:25:43.567 --> 00:25:51.731
She said in quotes here as you're watching the news leading up to the election, there will be highs and there will be lows as the attacks get brutal.

00:25:51.731 --> 00:25:56.086
As this feels very stressful, remember the news cycle will soon change.

00:25:56.086 --> 00:26:00.517
Try to ride at the top of the wave and not dive into every wave every time.

00:26:01.164 --> 00:26:04.219
So remember it's okay to feel anxious and apprehensive right now.

00:26:04.219 --> 00:26:06.146
These are normal human feelings.

00:26:06.146 --> 00:26:23.750
During crazy times like these, you can channel these emotions into volunteering or participating in a campaign, making sure friends, family and neighbors are registered to vote, finding common ground with those you disagree with and, maybe most importantly, sometimes setting the phone down and turning off the constant news cycle for just a little bit.

00:26:23.750 --> 00:26:33.155
Remember, like our friend Sharon said tumultuous times often precede important change, and we will come out on the other side and we'll be with you every step of the way.

00:26:33.836 --> 00:26:45.045
Thanks for tuning in and again, do as I say, not as I do Go for a walk with nothing but the sounds of nature or some good music, and we will catch you next week.

00:26:45.045 --> 00:26:51.512
Thanks for joining us for today's episode.

00:26:51.512 --> 00:26:53.092
We really appreciate the support.

00:26:53.767 --> 00:26:58.550
We would also really appreciate it if you hit the follow button and share this episode with anyone you think would enjoy it.

00:26:59.046 --> 00:27:01.815
And we'd like to thank Kevin Tanner, who edited this episode.

00:27:01.815 --> 00:27:07.057
If you're interested in learning more about him and his services, his website and Instagram are in the show notes.

00:27:07.565 --> 00:27:08.786
With that, we'll see you next week.

00:27:08.786 --> 00:27:25.301
Our last piece of advice here is just around hyper partisan, partisan mother.

00:27:30.775 --> 00:27:39.178
Our last piece of advice here we're just humans out here having normal human emotions about tumultuous times.

00:27:39.178 --> 00:27:43.666
Nope, demultuous, you were close, demultuous, demultuous, cool, I want to redo that.

00:27:43.666 --> 00:27:46.532
Okay, good, because I just knocked over my microphone.