I am trying to take a break from everything that freaks me out.
If I think a post of yours or video will give me anxiety, I won't read it/watch it. Sorry, Chris!
I stopped going to RealClearPolitics, Nate Silver, 538, anything Nate, I'm not reading. It doesn't help me and only makes me nervous.
I stopped doom scrolling Twitter.
While I can't block out everything due to professional obligations, I'm doing the very best I can.
I also put money on Trump winning. As a Maple Leafs fan who bets against them in the playoffs and always wins, if I'm going to be miserable, might as well make money off of it.
Chris, I know you've derided the people on substack who are telling you what you want to hear, but reading people like Simon Rosenburg really helps me feel better. I know his deal, but I really hope he's right and I find it soothing reading him explain why things are going to work out. Same with Allan Lichtman and his stupid keys. I so desperately want him to be right.
Thanks Chris. I've stopped reading newspaper articles about the election. I wasn't nervous in 2000 but after 2016 (when I didn't think Trump was electable), now I'm nervous. I am hoping, praying that the polls are wrong and it's not close at all. Because even if Trump isn't defeated, I think polls are misused, mishandled, misleading and impossible to ignore...and I'm hoping they are so discredited they become irrelevant (sorry Nate).
Being in chemotherapy has made it difficult to really keep up with the world. I barely have thought about the election. I don’t recommend this method, though! ;)
Thanks, Chris! I am trying to keep myself centered and focusing on other things. Tonight starts prep for the Holiday Pops concerts I'll sing with the Northwest Indiana Symphony Chorus, so that will take my mind off the next seven days. Music does wonders for the soul. Martin Luther is credited with saying that those who sing pray twice, and prayer is helpful, too.
I have had to check out because of the stress. No more news or socials until after the 5th. I just can't. I know where I stand and I cannot argue with wilfully ignorance anymore. I'm not changing anyone's mind.
It has gotten to the point of absolute FURY by now especially with the ads and campaign mail etc... in a "newly" appointed swing state.
I'm tired of the people all around me who can be slapped in the face with facts all day long and it just doesn't penetrative that ridiculous bubble of toxic alternative reality.
50 times a day I'm seeing the ad about how Kamala has been the border czar for the past 4 years and has done nothing about the crisis when the fact is the Biden administration and a bipartisan group of legislators did a comprehensive border bill that The Idiot and his acolyte squashed.
I can deal with differences of opinion over shades of Grey and degrees of action preferences by two sides looking at the same facts. But I just can't anymore with the distorted, frankly manufactured un-reality that real people are going to cast real votes on that will affect all of our real lives. Just enough already.
I don't know what the solution is, but there needs to be one soon. We can't live like this.
I live in PA, the all-important swing state. The ads are constant. When they show the one you are referring to I scream at the tv "THAT'S A LIE." I live in a town with more Trump signs than Harris ones. I'm hoping the Harris people are being discreet. I have PTSD about 2016 and how it made me feel when he won. I'm making an election night/days after plan in my head all the time. And praying a lot.
Funny! I forgot to even mention, I'm doing the fiction thing. Instead of my Serius all day running news like I usually do, the past few weeks I have revisited the great Neil Stevensons Cryptonomicon/ Baroque Cycle novels. If anyone is familiar (first of all great job rolling with the greatest!), you know I have an amazing few hundred hours of fabulous immersion in fascinating historical fiction! 😊
I listen to comedians when I'm in the car, funny shows on tv when I am at home and at work, I 've weaned myself off social media ( I am getting so caught up on my work, lol ). So far, so good :)
Chris,I love Three Pines and Louise Penny. You should read State of Terror co-written with Hillary Clinton. I have a clear picture of the late Tim Russert holding up a piece of notebook paper with FLORIDA scrawled on it during the 2000 election. He was the best! I am very anxious about T returning to the Oval Office with his band of sycophantic lieutenants. At 73 I have seen a lot of social change for women. But T and his band will drag us back to the 50’s. Not to mention his program of revenge and annihilation. The MSG “rally” was the second scariest political event in my lifetime. January 6 being the scariest of course. I pray numerous times a day that Kamala leads us out of this very dark place.
Hey, Chris. You could have been reading my emails this morning to my two friends who knocked on doors in Philly with me this past weekend. (We went on a Swing Left bus. It was a lot of fun, so well organized, and we felt good about spending the day in support of the Harris Walz campaign while Trump was having his hateful rally at MSG!) We talked about finding a support group we could connect with for the next seven days. We did not find one. Then we thought about doing a daily zoom to calm each other down. We knew that wouldn't work. Instead, I left my apartment, did some Gogol reading (I am a fan!) over at your old haunt, the formerly known as Time Warner Center. And had lunch with friends who were in from North Carolina because they got last minute tickets for tonight's Yankees game (don't get me started on that!). I have two classes tonight so that will help I hope and I don't even want to think about my psyche during next week's classes on Election Day. But, most of all, thank you for reaching out and making these suggestions. I have another one. Play with a dog or dogs. There are so many on the streets of NY post-covid and they will give you love for free and don't care who wins. They may be the only ones on the West Side of Manhattan who are somewhat sane.
I understand anxiety. As a fan of the New York Giants I get stressed heading into Sundays (or Monday/Thursday nights), hoping for something good but expecting the worst. The same with this election cycle. How can this election even be close?? What would Trump 2.0 really be like with no guardrails?? But I stopped looking at polls and will concentrate on other things until next Tuesday. And I will hope for the best...
My son is a Giants fan and he says the same thing He’s also a Yankees fan and that’s not going well. Oh well. Support the team in good times and bad times
Always appreciate Chris’ personal posts. This was excellent as usual. My trick as a pessimist (can’t watch my own pro sports teams in a clutch match) is to just nervously expect the worst, in prep for a pleasant surprise. As of now I’m resigned to a Trump victory (gulp)
I have a huge LEGO Rivendell set still in the box, just begging to be put together to take my mind off things. This weekend into next week is looking like the perfect time to dive into that project.
Regardless of who you support, be well everyone.
And thank you for sharing your personal story, Chris. Your advice is helpful too.
I am going to follow your good advice. After Kamala’s closing address tonight, I am going to turn off the TV, listen to some music( show tunes) and read Raven Rock.
I too am concerned for the after effects of this election.
I've found that a good craft brew usually calms my nerves. And if that doesn't do the trick, then I have another one.
I'm stocking up on champagne and intend to drink a bottle every day for a week after she wins!
Treat yourself to the finest single malt you can find and afford.
Oh, I will.
Exactly
I am trying to take a break from everything that freaks me out.
If I think a post of yours or video will give me anxiety, I won't read it/watch it. Sorry, Chris!
I stopped going to RealClearPolitics, Nate Silver, 538, anything Nate, I'm not reading. It doesn't help me and only makes me nervous.
I stopped doom scrolling Twitter.
While I can't block out everything due to professional obligations, I'm doing the very best I can.
I also put money on Trump winning. As a Maple Leafs fan who bets against them in the playoffs and always wins, if I'm going to be miserable, might as well make money off of it.
Chris, I know you've derided the people on substack who are telling you what you want to hear, but reading people like Simon Rosenburg really helps me feel better. I know his deal, but I really hope he's right and I find it soothing reading him explain why things are going to work out. Same with Allan Lichtman and his stupid keys. I so desperately want him to be right.
Thanks Chris. I've stopped reading newspaper articles about the election. I wasn't nervous in 2000 but after 2016 (when I didn't think Trump was electable), now I'm nervous. I am hoping, praying that the polls are wrong and it's not close at all. Because even if Trump isn't defeated, I think polls are misused, mishandled, misleading and impossible to ignore...and I'm hoping they are so discredited they become irrelevant (sorry Nate).
Hoping and praying too🙏.
I'll bookmark this one because I suspect I'll need to keep coming back to it over the next week and a half.
Being in chemotherapy has made it difficult to really keep up with the world. I barely have thought about the election. I don’t recommend this method, though! ;)
Best of everything.
Sending my best in your direction.
🙏Best of lick
Thanks, Chris! I am trying to keep myself centered and focusing on other things. Tonight starts prep for the Holiday Pops concerts I'll sing with the Northwest Indiana Symphony Chorus, so that will take my mind off the next seven days. Music does wonders for the soul. Martin Luther is credited with saying that those who sing pray twice, and prayer is helpful, too.
Amen!🙏
I have had to check out because of the stress. No more news or socials until after the 5th. I just can't. I know where I stand and I cannot argue with wilfully ignorance anymore. I'm not changing anyone's mind.
It has gotten to the point of absolute FURY by now especially with the ads and campaign mail etc... in a "newly" appointed swing state.
I'm tired of the people all around me who can be slapped in the face with facts all day long and it just doesn't penetrative that ridiculous bubble of toxic alternative reality.
50 times a day I'm seeing the ad about how Kamala has been the border czar for the past 4 years and has done nothing about the crisis when the fact is the Biden administration and a bipartisan group of legislators did a comprehensive border bill that The Idiot and his acolyte squashed.
I can deal with differences of opinion over shades of Grey and degrees of action preferences by two sides looking at the same facts. But I just can't anymore with the distorted, frankly manufactured un-reality that real people are going to cast real votes on that will affect all of our real lives. Just enough already.
I don't know what the solution is, but there needs to be one soon. We can't live like this.
I live in PA, the all-important swing state. The ads are constant. When they show the one you are referring to I scream at the tv "THAT'S A LIE." I live in a town with more Trump signs than Harris ones. I'm hoping the Harris people are being discreet. I have PTSD about 2016 and how it made me feel when he won. I'm making an election night/days after plan in my head all the time. And praying a lot.
Funny! I forgot to even mention, I'm doing the fiction thing. Instead of my Serius all day running news like I usually do, the past few weeks I have revisited the great Neil Stevensons Cryptonomicon/ Baroque Cycle novels. If anyone is familiar (first of all great job rolling with the greatest!), you know I have an amazing few hundred hours of fabulous immersion in fascinating historical fiction! 😊
I listen to comedians when I'm in the car, funny shows on tv when I am at home and at work, I 've weaned myself off social media ( I am getting so caught up on my work, lol ). So far, so good :)
Chris,I love Three Pines and Louise Penny. You should read State of Terror co-written with Hillary Clinton. I have a clear picture of the late Tim Russert holding up a piece of notebook paper with FLORIDA scrawled on it during the 2000 election. He was the best! I am very anxious about T returning to the Oval Office with his band of sycophantic lieutenants. At 73 I have seen a lot of social change for women. But T and his band will drag us back to the 50’s. Not to mention his program of revenge and annihilation. The MSG “rally” was the second scariest political event in my lifetime. January 6 being the scariest of course. I pray numerous times a day that Kamala leads us out of this very dark place.
Hey, Chris. You could have been reading my emails this morning to my two friends who knocked on doors in Philly with me this past weekend. (We went on a Swing Left bus. It was a lot of fun, so well organized, and we felt good about spending the day in support of the Harris Walz campaign while Trump was having his hateful rally at MSG!) We talked about finding a support group we could connect with for the next seven days. We did not find one. Then we thought about doing a daily zoom to calm each other down. We knew that wouldn't work. Instead, I left my apartment, did some Gogol reading (I am a fan!) over at your old haunt, the formerly known as Time Warner Center. And had lunch with friends who were in from North Carolina because they got last minute tickets for tonight's Yankees game (don't get me started on that!). I have two classes tonight so that will help I hope and I don't even want to think about my psyche during next week's classes on Election Day. But, most of all, thank you for reaching out and making these suggestions. I have another one. Play with a dog or dogs. There are so many on the streets of NY post-covid and they will give you love for free and don't care who wins. They may be the only ones on the West Side of Manhattan who are somewhat sane.
I understand anxiety. As a fan of the New York Giants I get stressed heading into Sundays (or Monday/Thursday nights), hoping for something good but expecting the worst. The same with this election cycle. How can this election even be close?? What would Trump 2.0 really be like with no guardrails?? But I stopped looking at polls and will concentrate on other things until next Tuesday. And I will hope for the best...
My son is a Giants fan and he says the same thing He’s also a Yankees fan and that’s not going well. Oh well. Support the team in good times and bad times
Thank you Chris, for that thoughtful and helpful post. We'll done!
Thanks! I can't wait to start reading Penny's new book tonight (after DWTS, of course)!
Always appreciate Chris’ personal posts. This was excellent as usual. My trick as a pessimist (can’t watch my own pro sports teams in a clutch match) is to just nervously expect the worst, in prep for a pleasant surprise. As of now I’m resigned to a Trump victory (gulp)
Me too, sorta. Either way, our So What community is here for us, right?
The news is much better consumed in print in my opinion.
I have a huge LEGO Rivendell set still in the box, just begging to be put together to take my mind off things. This weekend into next week is looking like the perfect time to dive into that project.
Regardless of who you support, be well everyone.
And thank you for sharing your personal story, Chris. Your advice is helpful too.
Hi Chris!
I am going to follow your good advice. After Kamala’s closing address tonight, I am going to turn off the TV, listen to some music( show tunes) and read Raven Rock.
I too am concerned for the after effects of this election.
Keep praying!!