Trump Won! Now What?

I’m sitting here doing my best not to look at my Facebook feed or any other social media feed for that matter. Why? Well, Donald Trump has just won the presidential election and there are two responses:

a. oh my goodness, what the hell just happened?

or

b. YES! We did it! Our voice was heard.

Actually, there is a third response.

c. Good luck. I didn’t contribute to this at all.

Right now, I feel the same as I felt a few weeks ago. I’m ready to move forward. I’m awake this morning and my world hasn’t ended. Life isn’t perfect but I’m ready to do the work to move towards better.

I’m concerned for my children and the world they will live in. But, that doesn’t have anything to do with who is president of the U.S. It has to do with the lack of compassion I see from many. It has to do with our insistence on being right and being acknowledged to the detriment of everyone else. Maybe I’ll feel differently in 12 months. I don’t know.

I know what it’s like to not be heard. I know what it’s like to feel ignored. I know what it’s like to feel like a failure. I know what it’s like to feel like no matter what you say or do, it doesn’t make a difference. I know all of those feelings and I won’t act like they were a long time ago. Some of them are feelings I fight daily. But, I don’t fight them through the eyes of depression. I fight them through the eyes of choice.

Every day, I wake up and have the opportunity to make several decisions. I get to choose my attitude for the day. I get to choose what I will work on that day. I get to decide what’s most important and work towards completing it. I get to hug my family and love them no matter what. And, all of that is a blessing.

I’m staying away from my social media feed because despite all of the blessings I have and things I can be thankful for, I will encounter complaints and disbelief. I will encounter anger and disappointment. I will have to scroll past negativity and in some cases immaturity to get to something of value. The trouble is, by the time I get there, it may not seem as valuable to me because I have to re-program my sensibilities.

I suppose it takes time to process everything happening and how the world as we know it will change. But, one man won’t have the power to change my outlook. One party or one system won’t create happiness or sadness for me. I choose to create that for myself. I choose to engage in prayer, in depth spiritual practice, connecting with my family and disconnecting from everything else that is less important.

“The only calibration that counts is how much heart people invest, how much they ignore their fears of being hurt or caught out or humiliated. And the only thing people regret is that they didn’t live boldly enough, that they didn’t invest enough heart, didn’t love enough. Nothing else really counts at all.” -Ted Hughes

It’s 5am now and I know when I begin my day, I will have texts and contacts from family members asking my thoughts. I know some will be emotionally charged about the events of last night and want to talk about it.

I hope I won’t appear rude to those I love, but I’d much rather spend my energy differently today. I want to find out who I can help. I want to find out who I can make a difference for.

There will be a lot to wade through and with time, we’ll figure out what makes sense.

I’m sure there’ll be a gazillion articles on Trump today but right now, I’m going to re-calibrate and focus on my book launch.

Today is Day 70 of a 12 week writing experiment.