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Although it is not an official mental health (DSM-V-TR) diagnosis, Election Anxiety is a condition that has been impacting people on both sides of the aisle. It is a state that mirrors its mental health diagnostic cousin, bringing with it sleeplessness, rapid heart rate, somatic symptoms such as headaches, jitters and gastrointestinal distress. It spills over into all aspects of our lives, including our relationships with family, friends, and colleagues. As is the case with any form of anxiety, it involves the dynamics of:
- Uncertainty about what lies ahead.
- Lack of control over the eventual outcome
The truth is, none of us has a crystal ball that will guarantee the results of the election and we all only ultimately have control over our own vote.
Yet, we can feel some agency in the situation by asking questions and being curious as to why a person in our lives has their differing perspective from ours. We can share resources that are fact checked since deliberate disinformation causes confusion and chaos. There are numerous international fact checking websites to screen articles, statements and the content of memes.
Conversations over family dinner tables and group chats have become heated. Unfriending people on social media has become commonplace. It is hard not to dehumanize people on the other side of the fence, but the reality is, whatever the outcome, we still need to (hopefully peacefully) live together.
An article in Time Magazine called “Americans Are Tired of Political Division. Here’s How to Bridge It,” addresses the dire need to come together even as it seems impossible to do. Peter T. Coleman and Pearce Godwin created The Political Courage Challenge to at least lay the foundation for the span over treacherous waters. It invites the users to determine their own biases about their own party, their party’s leadership, and those who would vote for another party and its governance. The Courage Challenge asks this crucial question: Do you “Feel like we're more divided than ever?”
“You're not alone: 87% of Americans are exhausted by how politically divided we are. We've designed this challenge to help you address polarization in your life.”
Braver Angels is a non-partisan organization that strives to bring people together across divides and create a sense of unity in situations where it seems impossible. It includes a podcast called A Braver Way.
One Small Step is a segment on NPR that arranges interviews with people of varying socio-psychological-spiritual-political perspectives. An acquaintance, who is a self-proclaimed ‘left of center, crunchy granola hippie,’ who is old enough to be the grandmother of the 23-year-old woman with whom she was matched, had a positive experience. The conversation was heartwarming as the middle class, Jewish, Northerner grandmother with purple hair spoke with a working class, Southern born and bred Evangelical Christian by birth, and who has since stepped away from those teachings into a more ecumenical faith. The older acquaintance was an outlier in a family of Trump supporters. Even though she took not only that one small step, but that brave leap, she was still not ready to out herself among her family and reveal that her beliefs had changed. (The recordings of their conversation are kept in the Library of Congress archives into perpetuity.)
Questions to ask yourself and others in your life who differ in their political beliefs:
- What are my core beliefs about our relationships?
- How do the candidates we support reflect our deepest values?
- How can I be respectful of others with different political persuasions even though we disagree?
- What are the common threads between us?
Musical icon Stevie Wonder just released a new song called “Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart?” In it, he sings of a cry for unity that sometimes feels elusive. I would like to think the answer is a hardy YES!
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