ways to support your self-care practice leading up to and directly after the election, a thread:

1. determine how much media you are able to consume.

do you want to watch the full election coverage as all the results are announced in real time?

do you want to check in occasionally throughout the night?

do you want to go to bed and see the results in the morning?

2. step away from social media if you need to avoid constantly seeing people talk about the election.

engage with social media if it will help you stay hopeful and make you feel empowered.

3. ground yourself in knowing that regardless of the result, we must move forward with whatever the outcome is. life must go on. we must persist.

4. find the support that you need. do you want to be with people the night of the election to watch the results unfold? would you rather be completely alone? would it be helpful to check in with someone as the night goes on and the day after?

5. let yourself feel whatever emotions come up before and after the results are finalized. this election has profound implications for the future of our democracy. you should be feeling what you are feeling, it IS really that important.

6. if possible, distance yourself from family, friends, colleagues, etc. that hope for a different election result than you do. tensions will be running high, and it may be best for you to try and separate yourself from that tension as the results unfold.

7. make sure you eat, drink water, shower, take your medications, and all other basic necessities that otherwise may be forgotten during times of intense stress and insecurity

8. distract yourself. watch netflix, go for a walk, bake or cook, read, listen to music— anything that can serve as escapism and take yourself away from the current reality, even if for a brief period of time.

9. you don’t need to jump right back into organizing immediately following the election. give yourself time to feel and to process. the work is ready for you only when you are ready to give it your all.