Chelsea’s Post-Election Challenge: 3 Things To Start Doing Today
“Trump has been living rent-free in everyone’s heads for the past five years — and we have evicted him.”
Ding, dong the witch is…. gone. Well, almost.
After a very tedious (and still ongoing) presidential election, Chelsea recently addressed the state of the nation, and the impact the election has undoubtedly had on us all. From a feeling of mental to emotional hostage our current political climate has on us, to what we can do next to liberate ourselves from panic, Chelsea acknowledges the issues, while also proposing a challenge in response to it all.
Check it out below.
1. Don’t Panic — After All, Biden Is Going To Be President!
“A lot of us panicked on election night, even though anyone who’d been following the predictions correctly or thoroughly, would have known and been made aware, that it was very likely the outcome would seem one way on election day because of those day-of results, but would pretty quickly change, once we started treating the mail-in ballots.
“But there was a panic, and there’s still been a lot of panic the past few days because of some of Trump’s commentary, and the people around him refusing to fully and completely embrace the stated results of the election. I get it, but… now we’re in a position where Biden’s going to be the president,” Chelsea optimistically reminds everyone.
She continued, “Don’t get me wrong, there’s going to be a lot of bluster. It’s going to be very corrosive to the national discourse to have 70% percent of Republicans stating that they don’t think this election was free and fair. That’s corrosive. That’s bad. That’s not helping the situation. But those are also things that are very, very difficult to act upon. More importantly, panicking about those things — just like we panicked between election day and the results and just like we panicked before election day — does nothing to help, and in many ways, helps the people who benefit from that chaos and uncertainty.
“Think strategically; I understand that people panic, and I want to make something very clear. Though it’s not a criticism I’ve personally received much, it is a criticism that I would understand if someone leveled at me. I am a privileged person. I’m financially stable. I live in a situation where ultimately, who[ever] is the president, although it does affect my husband and me on an immigration level — which is very tangible — even if we had to change the plans of literally where we lived in the world, we would be okay. So I do understand that the stakes for me are lower than they are for some other people, and that can cause me perhaps to be a little less panicked.”
“Panicking, fearing the worst, worrying and being drowned in anxiety, is the least productive thing you can do, and one of the only things that’s truly guaranteed to not move the needle.”
Chelsea pointed out that although panicking is understandable, it does nothing to change the inevitable outcome. So you may as well try your best to avoid it altogether.
“Even in the case of someone who has everything to lose, panicking, fearing the worst, worrying and being drowned in anxiety, is the least productive thing you can do, and one of the only things that’s truly guaranteed to not move the needle, and also harm you in the process.
2. Turn Your Panic Into Productivity — Here Are A Few Tips How
As Chelsea is quick to point out: “It’s time to turn the page and do something productive.”
“Now, I definitely could do a lot more than I currently do to help some of these outcomes, and I plan to definitely step up my participation, with these Georgia runoffs, even more so from what I did in the general or the primaries,” Chelsea stated, before detailing what others and herself could do next in order to lend a hand, post-election.
“Currently, we have two run-off elections in Georgia that will decide the fate of the Senate, and those are two areas in which you actually can do something. You can phone bank, you can text bank, you can canvas, you can donate. There are almost limitless ways and groups and people to partner up with, with whom you can start working toward a beneficial outcome.
Even doing a little bit of something is not only extremely beneficial for the outcome, it’s also helpful to you, because every moment you are actually doing something productive, you have one less minute to panic, and one less minute to feel impotent and beholden to the will of another person. In this case, that man who is going to be leaving on January 20th; I am so sick of even saying his name. I will not pretend like I do not have moments of anxiety or fear or panic about some of these things. I do. But one of the least productive things you could do is broadcast that to the people around you, or to broadcast it on your social media feeds, or to fall into that doom scrolling pit, or to catastrophize publicly.”
“Every moment you are actually doing something productive, you have one less minute to panic, and one less minute to feel impotent and beholden to the will of another person.”
She then went on to propose the next part of her challenge, the first of which was to not panic, and the second, to be productive in place of panicking.
“So my challenge to you is, if nothing else changes, we have wasted enough time playing defense against this bullsh*t. We have wasted enough time panicking about what might be. My challenge is, at least between now and inauguration day, including those [Georgia] runoffs which I highly, encourage you to do something about, is do not give into panic.
“Anytime you are on the precipice of panicking or focusing on your anxiety around something you cannot control, take that time away from yourself, volunteer, donate a dollar, see if you can get someone else to donate a dollar. Just make use of that time, and stop giving in to the panic. It may not change the outcome, but I guarantee you it will put us all in a better place, mentally, to run the long race, which is what we all need to be doing.”
3. Evict Trump From Your Head — Today!
“We use the phrase, ‘Lives rent-free in our heads,’ a lot. Sometimes it’s overused, but in this case, Donald Trump has been living rent-free in everyone’s heads for the past five years — and we have evicted him.”
“Now we may have not evicted every element that he has unleashed or created, or dynamic that he has put in place, but at minimum, the insanity that he’s constantly spewing, the stuff he’s saying on Twitter, the bluster, you don’t have to pay attention to that anymore. So if what you want is a world where we all have a little bit more of a shared reality and are working toward policy goals that are positive rather than fighting based on cults of personality, you would be best served to turn the volume down on that guy.
“Although personally, I’m not 100% thrilled with the outcomes of election day, I’m pretty happy that we can at least move on from hanging on to every single word that one person is saying. That is a net positive for our country and the world. So let’s embrace it. Let’s turn the volume down on that a**hole and get to work.
That’s my message to you. Enjoy the rest of your week, make yourself a hot chocolate, cuddle under a Snuggie, bask in the knowledge that that man is on his way out, on January 20th!”
“Donald Trump has been living rent-free in everyone’s heads for the past five years — and we have evicted him.”
Check out the video above!
Image via Unsplash
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