Post-Election Stress Disorder

I wasn't deeply involved in the election this week except for the voting part, and today I feel like I've been run over by a truck. I limit my intake of news and media as much as possible around election time because the heightened stress and vigilance are way past too much, and there is no resolution gained through our traditional process. There is no period of relief after the elections now. The 24-hour news cycle assures that.

I've talked about how marketing is having a long-term negative effect on our collective nervous system, and I have to include political advertising in the  list of offenders. Even with the sound off, I can still read the onscreen text that intentionally triggers fear and paints opponents in the worst possible light. 

I'm not even hopeful that this can change, but the real question I have is what will it take for us to want the change badly enough? In the midst of all my angst and weariness I still have hope. I have hope because creative, deep-thinking people are still here and a vision is emerging of ways we can be together without reaching a point where one half of humanity has to either imprison, enslave, or kill the other. 

As tired as I am tonight, I still want to work to make things better. We're worth the effort.

#election2022 #exhaustion #PTSD