Thank you for this post, Lisa, and for the very thought-provoking reads at the end, as someone who processes by reading and writing. I think reminding the younger people in my life, and frankly, my peers and myself, that this is not the end of the world has been huge this week. I feel like a lot of Democratic messaging for several months, pre-election, was “this is the One Last Chance to save our rights and preserve democracy!” And while I understand the desire to motivate voters and communicate the serious stakes of the election, that kind of catastrophizing really didn’t set people up to build resilience or feel even mildly okay in the wake of Trump’s election. Especially for people of all ages with anxiety and depression — check in on them this week. Some of my friends and my kiddos are in very dark places mentally, and while there’s no need to push blind optimism or diminish their pain, it really helps to try to break that downward spiral towards doomsday thinking.
This is such a good insight, Jenna. The pre-election catastrophizing was totally understandable, and the stakes are indeed very high, but also... I mean, definitely really hard on kids and anyone who's already in a hard place with their mental and emotional health. It's so hard to find a good balance of warning and not overdooming....
Thank you for this post, Lisa, and for the very thought-provoking reads at the end, as someone who processes by reading and writing. I think reminding the younger people in my life, and frankly, my peers and myself, that this is not the end of the world has been huge this week. I feel like a lot of Democratic messaging for several months, pre-election, was “this is the One Last Chance to save our rights and preserve democracy!” And while I understand the desire to motivate voters and communicate the serious stakes of the election, that kind of catastrophizing really didn’t set people up to build resilience or feel even mildly okay in the wake of Trump’s election. Especially for people of all ages with anxiety and depression — check in on them this week. Some of my friends and my kiddos are in very dark places mentally, and while there’s no need to push blind optimism or diminish their pain, it really helps to try to break that downward spiral towards doomsday thinking.
This is such a good insight, Jenna. The pre-election catastrophizing was totally understandable, and the stakes are indeed very high, but also... I mean, definitely really hard on kids and anyone who's already in a hard place with their mental and emotional health. It's so hard to find a good balance of warning and not overdooming....