Election day has finally come and gone. It’s been a very long election year filled with so much intense emotion. We are all weary and emotionally spent. Given the extreme divisiveness in our country, it’s frightening to consider what just might come next.

Our bodies have been revved up all year in anticipation. 

This is a very important time to take a mental health break and explore the amount of stress you are carrying and practice some coping tools to help you chill your worked-up system.

Our body reacts to the emotions we carry.

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor,” said Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh. This meditation is a powerful tool to help remind us that feelings do indeed come and go.

Our breath is with us 24/7. We can use it to calm our stressed-up body when are minds are whirling with emotion. Our breath can ground us. Soothe us. Calm us. 

And, all we need do is take a few slow, deep breaths no matter where we are and focus our mind on the air coming into and out of our nose and lungs, feel our chest expand with our inhale and contract when we exhale.

Our whole body needs some tender loving care.

Head outdoors and take a walk out in nature to see the clouds, watch the wind move the tree limbs, listen to the birds chirping, smell the air. Nature calms our system. Walking for even 10 minutes helps improve our mood. Walking reduces the stress hormone cortisol and helps us feel less stressed and more relaxed.

Go do something fun with a friend. Turn off the news and connect with the people around you. 

Give yourself the opportunity to process your feelings about the election — the grief, disappointment, frustration, anger, guilt. It can help to write them out. Express them on paper. Let yourself have a good cry or pound on a pillow if you need to.

Think about what you are grateful for and write it down in a daily gratitude journal. Even in hard times, there is much to be thankful for in our lives. Gratitude gives us strength.

Consider what you can and cannot control and put your energy into that which you can. We have choices to make about what we focus on.

Do reach out to a therapist if you are having difficulty coping with the stress that you are experiencing. It is a strength to ask for help when we need it!

For the good of our mental health, it is vital to find common ground with others especially those with different views than our own. 

We actually do have things in common with each other. We share core values as human beings.

We can make the choice to focus on those shared values rather than labeling people who think differently than we do as being extreme, or illogical or hateful. 

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Focusing on common ground builds connections. It is connection that helps reduce our overall stress. Because I am really not so different than you I don’t need to be so revved up, stressed out and live in fear of what is going to happen next. 

It is up to each one of us to decide if we want to continue living in the stress we have been or take steps to build a healthier self, community and country, too! Just what choices are you going to make?

— Jude Vereyken, LMSW, CAADC, ACSW, is a clinical social worker/owner of JD’s Midlife Tools For Living Practices LLC. Jude can be reached at jude@midlifetoolsforliving.com.