Maybe you’re like me– having some trouble with worry and preoccupation and watching or listening or reading too much about the coming 2024 election. All the hype and commentary and analysis and play-by-play that goes on and on. Sometimes it’s hard for me to focus on my own life, and my mental health gets wobbly when I get too caught up in it all.
Yesterday I wrote about it, trying to help myself get some perspective and calm down. I came up with this poem, and I want to share it in case it might be helpful for anyone else who’s also struggling. I’ll probably still watch at least part of the big debate tonight, but I’m intending to limit my scrolling and hand-wringing afterward.
Here’s the video I made, and the text below. Peace, my friends!
It’s starting to happen again,
that pre-election fear ramping up, my heart
beating against my chest like a moth trapped
in a jar as I watch the train wreck coming closer,
the dark storm clouds rolling in, and it seems
there’s nothing I can do but watch it.
So I watch it,
my screens filling up with politics and loud
voices and warnings and clips and snippets
and fear. The worst is
coming coming coming,
the ignorant hate pouring endlessly from a mouth
that no one seems to know how to stop despite
laws and checks and balances and common sense and decency.
Common sense and decency don’t make money,
so it will not be stopped. It’s just too viciously seductive
to have us ramp up every day, our collective fears flocking
like crows cawing out as we fly in frantic circles
towards that doomsday, or a possible
last-minute save.
But today, I can save myself.
I’ve given money, I’ll write letters soon, but for today
I can unwring my hands, soften the knot
in my chest. Breathe.
Remind myself that watching and worrying
won’t help anyone. Step outside and look up
at the actual sky, not the pre-recorded
sky image on a screen. The vast blue expanse above me
with trees raising their leafy limbs in the free air.
Breathe in this freedom.
Just for today.
Theresa…
Oh, Theresa, you have saved my day.
Saved my sanity, if only for today.
There are no words to describe the feeling of release, of almost-relief, as first I listened to your words and then read them.
Thank you
I’m SO glad to hear that, Suzanne! I know it’s what I needed to hear myself, and probably over and over again for the next 2 months and beyond. Thanks for reading and commenting, my friend. Take care!
You have captured my angst so beautifully. Your reading makes it even more effective. Thank you !
I so appreciate your words, Nora… thanks for reading/ watching! <3
I could feel my shoulders going up…and then down, as I read. Thank you!
I’m so glad it helped, Andrea! It seems especially helpful this week to remember to breathe and turn away from the screens.