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Hey so like. Tomorrow, huh? I'm just gonna point out that I think for many of us, even if it all goes super well, it's going to be rough, emotionally. We've been...well, there's been a series of other shoes falling, for years, and things going well might feel wrong and unsafe.
To be clear, I'm saying this at least half so that I can look at my own tweets tomorrow and be like 'oh, yeah, that's why.'
But as someone who's done both, surviving a terrible thing or being away from an abusive situation often feels, at least initially, *terrifying*.
But as someone who's done both, surviving a terrible thing or being away from an abusive situation often feels, at least initially, *terrifying*.
If you can set yourself up to be kind to yourself and to make things easy for yourself tomorrow, now would be a great time to do that. Now's kinda your last chance, really.
Some suggestions:
Change your sheets if clean sheets makes you feel good.
Do your dishes. You are NOT going to be able to deal with a sink of dishes tomorrow. Don't try.
Do whatever silly, tedious chores you have to do and get them over with now.
Change your sheets if clean sheets makes you feel good.
Do your dishes. You are NOT going to be able to deal with a sink of dishes tomorrow. Don't try.
Do whatever silly, tedious chores you have to do and get them over with now.
Can you prepare easy food? Assemble snacks? Pre-order delivery? Eating can be really hard when you're stressed, and walking away from the blaring feed of THINGS HAPPENING is harder when there are, in fact, things happening. Do you need reminders to remember to eat? Set them.
Do you have medication you take as-needed, especially for things like anxiety, pain, or, entirely hypothetically, stress-induced muscle spasms? Now would be a great time to get them out and put them somewhere easily accessible, because see above re: walking away from THINGS!!
Do you have a backup plan? Like, sure, maybe ideally tomorrow is a normal day, but if it's not, what are you going to do? Do you have a videogame you can disappear into? A movie? A craft? A friend who'll hang out on discord and talk shit about your mutual non-political enemies?
Now is probably not the time to start the new prestige television series or the potentially frustrating or confusing new videogame or book. Now is the time for something that's reliable and absorbing *enough* without being taxing.
Is there a cool new game you're dying to play? Maybe go, like, learn the controls tonight, you know? Get your new craft project set up tonight. Open seventy-four tags of fanfiction tonight. Whatever you, personally, are going to find comforting and distracting.
As people keep pointing out, everyone's having a hard time right now, but I think that tomorrow might be a lot harder than people expect it to be.
Honestly, emotionally, it might be pretty rough for a while, evenâmaybe especiallyâif tomorrow is a smooth, problem-free transition.
Honestly, emotionally, it might be pretty rough for a while, evenâmaybe especiallyâif tomorrow is a smooth, problem-free transition.
Even when no one's hit you in a real long time, sometimes you still react instinctively when something moves too fast near your face. You're still ready for it, and sometimes *not* getting hit is hugely upsetting and distressing.
Not because you like getting hit, but because you knew what to expect, and once it'd happened, you knew the worst part was over. But it's not happening, so you feel like it's not over, and you just have to sit with the anxiety and fear and tension and lack of expected resolution.
Anyhow, if tomorrow goes badly, things are gonna be...bad.
But if tomorrow goes well, things might still be bad. You're not reacting wrong or being hysterical. It doesn't mean you were hoping things would go badly. It means your brain is trying to protect you.
But if tomorrow goes well, things might still be bad. You're not reacting wrong or being hysterical. It doesn't mean you were hoping things would go badly. It means your brain is trying to protect you.
It means that your brain's sitting there going OH NO, PATTERN RECOGNITION, I KNOW THIS ONE, and it's trying its damndest to help you brace for impact.
If the impact doesn't come, all that preparation is still there because it didn't get used up absorbing the blow.
If the impact doesn't come, all that preparation is still there because it didn't get used up absorbing the blow.
I feel sort of ridiculous writing all this down, and telling you that haha yeah, even if things go well, odds are good that I'm going to have a full-on breakdown about it, but, honestly: even if things go well, I'm going to have a full-on breakdown, and maybe you are, too.
I hope everything goes super smoothly tomorrow, both politically and emotionally, and no one, including me, needs any of this advice, and we can all look at it and have a hearty laugh at how wrong I was. I really, really hope that.
But just in case. Please take care of yourself.
But just in case. Please take care of yourself.
One last thing. If you're ordering delivery tomorrow? You need to tip *really fucking well*. Delivery people are also miserable and struggling, and no one's bringing them lunch. (Lest you think I'm a hypocrite, I can't afford to do this, so am not getting delivery. I'll live.)
