Election Reflection: Balancing Hope, Fear, and Accountability

I've grown up, wizened, and I'm not falling for those tricks anymore. Now what?

Story-at-a-glance:

• This essay explores the mixed emotions of hope and fear in the wake of another election, emphasizing the importance of holding space for possibility without succumbing to fear-driven narratives against either side.

• Critiquing systemic failures and divisive media spin, urging readers to take personal accountability and seek balanced perspectives while holding their parties accountable instead of blaming voters.

• Calling for unity, grace, and thoughtful engagement to transcend partisan divides and work toward meaningful, inclusive change for a better life for all of us.

---

Sorry for the delay
I’ve been delayed in my writing because I wanted to honor myself in the space of the mixed emotions of post-election hopes and fears while also honoring where you are. I think it’s important to allow space for all of us to feel what we feel before entering in prematurely and interrupting that process.

I know many aren’t ready and that it might take awhile, but it was time for me to write again.

So, here we are. We’ve been put through the wringer of another grueling election. Some of us are celebrating while others of us are grieving, along with many who likely have mixed feelings -like me- because they didn’t care for things that either side was promoting.

Many of us were hoping for change that wove the best things together from across the aisles. For me, that’s especially important when it comes to better health for our country, our children, and our future.

The rehash-spin cycle begins continues
Truth and trust feel like a scarce resource to pinpoint these days. Our political systems and candidates leave me feeling insecure, unfulfilled, and sometimes just plain scared.

I have been trying to vote for change ever since I voted for Obama. I was a Bernie supporter and RFK looked appealing to me, but the system locked both Bernie and RFK out of the election process because that’s what they do to anyone who comes with a new fresh message that challenges the status quo of the system for the people…and it will happen again…this time.

While I trust RFK Jr. to deliver the best he can, I don’t trust his partnership with Trump seeing as he’s being appointed to a position that he can be fired from - Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) - which is a position that I think he’d do very well at because he’s been doing this work for decades now.

I’ve seen way too many fired by Trump over the years and unfortunately, I expect this partnership to fall by the wayside with a disagreement since we know they don’t see eye to eye on many things. But I’m working on my skepticism which can cancel out the energy of hope that I’m holding loosely for something better. I’m a work in progress.

Hope for a healthier future
Separate from that, I’m afraid to hope because I can feel the machines revving up. They’re starting to corrupt the path before us by making us afraid of some of the very people who will fight to make things better for us.

Meanwhile, several of those people will also be out to make things better for themselves which may make things worse for us in the long run. It will be a mixed bag of an outcome for sure like it always is.

A promise for better healthcare and quality food manufacturing in this country is very appealing to me. I have been hoping, praying, and advocating for it for a very long time. Am I naive to even think it’s possible under the current circumstances?

There are BIG players and bureaucracies that will be affected by some of the changes that are being considered. Those players don’t want to lose their market share nor see the power they wield to diminish and will do anything they can to keep us from believing some of the positive things that can happen to make life better. So often, we’ll fight against our own best interests without even realizing it.

I’ve been hopeful before with elements of the Obama administration —optimistic, wide-eyed with the belief of hope, only to be let down. It’s a cycle I’ve chosen to step away from these days as I’ve wizened from my experiences, not out of cynicism, but out of a need for balance and clarity.

I’ve grown up. I’ve matured. I’ve learned to hold space for the things I hope for without grasping and gripping and attaching myself so tightly that the inevitable imperfections of humans and systems tear me apart when they fail me.

People are fallible, systems are imperfect, and the future is uncertain. But I refuse to stop envisioning better.

It’s tempting to let fear—the kind so easily weaponized in politics—cloud our capacity for hope. Fear of “the other” can harden us, making it impossible to envision a higher, healthier future for everyone that’s born through politics.

Maybe that’s it. Maybe it’s a pipe dream to even think it positive change can come about politically.

Holding space
But what if we refused to let fear dictate our thoughts this time? What if we could hold space for possibility without jumping to the worst-case scenario about “the other side” every.single.time?

I think about my friends in healthcare. They’ve seen so much suffering that when someone shares certain health concerns, their minds often leap to worst case scenarios.

I suspect the same thing happens in politics. We encounter people who don’t share our views, and we unconsciously project onto them the worst experiences we’ve had in conversations with people of similar beliefs. But that person standing in front of us isn’t that worst person that we’ve argued with before.

Many of us are shadowboxing our fears and tilting at windmills, imagining threats where there may be none while missing opportunities for connection and progress.

Can we do better?

What might happen if we softened, asking clarifying questions, while offering them the benefit of the doubt?

Pivotal times
Wherever you are in this political moment—grieving, jubilant, uncertain—I want you to know that I see you and I understand.

This is a pivotal time for ALL of us. What we say, how we act, and the energy we bring into the world right now matters. It ripples outward, shaping the world much more than we realize. If we’re not coming from love then we’re coming from fear which makes things worse.

Something to consider. The outcome of the election isn’t a moral issue in most cases, although sometimes it can be. A projection of morality—or a lack thereof—onto this election does not define what it meant for so many people that aren’t the “-ists” that we accuse them of being. When we so nonchalantly and dismissively do this, we’re missing the mark and don’t even realize it.

We don’t get to set ourselves up as the morally superior arbiter of what matters. That’s not our place.

People get to define what’s important to them. It’s arrogant to expect someone that’s struggling to vote for something or someone else over their own interests. We need to stop gaslighting them because they get to vote for the world they want to live in just as much as we do.

Do we think voters were torn between voting for a candidate they couldn’t stand and voting for their perceived best interest based on campaign promises and the disappointment of the life they’re living right now? Of course.

Two seemingly opposing things can exist in the same space. Yet we continue to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of voters, refusing to acknowledge the failures of parties’ actions, strategy, and messaging.

When will we quit blaming the voters? When will we finally call on the parties to take responsibility for their role in this mess since they’re the overseers and puppeteers that place before us what they want us to vote on?

What we do, how we act, what we say, and the energy we carry right now matters. It has an energetic ripple effect. So we should ask ourselves what we are energetically feeding with our words and actions?

Are we holding space for hope that things can get better, or are we letting skepticism—or worse, sheer exhaustion—close us off to new possibilities? Are we refusing to entertain a better future simply because “the other side” might be trying to make something new and better happen?

We’ve seen this happen over and over again in the past with both parties trying to block good things just so the other party doesn’t get to claim something good for their side. It’s immature, it’s ridiculous, and it’s not serving the highest for our country.

Bear thoughtful witness to issues
No matter if you love them or hate them, take a step back and watch the political and media machines in action. It’s a peek into the matrix on some level.

In this era of nonstop information, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, manipulated, or paralyzed. Everything is presented as so urgent! Everything demands our attention. But we don’t have to engage with every headline and every soundbite that disturbs us about the next urgent thing. We can thoughtfully decide what’s important to us, and we can approach it with caution, clarity, and independence…without being attached to it.

The political and media machines are running 24/7/365. They very intentionally create and feed us content masterfully designed to keep us hooked. They craftily grab us by the amigdala where fear and emotion resides, thereby hijacking our presence and attention. This cycle causes us to feel like we *have* to come back to check in for more.

Don’t let them make us decide by default what’s important because they’ll never let us go. Their job is to keep us glued to their content so they can make more money off their advertisers. It’s a well-designed formula that has worked well…until now.

Stay cautious of those channels and content that you trust. Sometimes they get captured by their audiences and the money they make off of them. Sometimes certain companies get bought by others and start to slowly diverge from the original intention.

Don’t fall back into a slumber. That’s how we got to this place. We need to remain aware and vigilant even when we feel lazy and don’t want to.

We can resist. We can think for ourselves, feel for ourselves, and decide what matters to us on our own terms.

Let’s be more conscious deciders of what we see and hear and the balance and agendas of the sources we listen to.

Let’s try our best to catch things live or find a channel that offers it up as close to the original as we can because these days, we can’t be too cautious with deep fakes etc.

Can we be open and aware, yet cautious, while thoughtfully considering each issue on our own without running it through a screen or a talking head first?

We should check in with ourselves first to see what we think and how we’re processing each new event, then we can check into our screens for further perspective.

Accountability
We must take responsibility for our part in the mess we’re in because it’s not just about “them”; it’s about ALL of us that got us to this place. None of us is perfect.

We quite often extend grace to “our side” intentionally looking the other way while simultaneously tearing down “their side” for exactly the same thing which is duplicitous at best.

We often refuse to acknowledge their efforts or progress because it doesn’t align with the narrative on our side and we’ve got too much ego to allow them a win.

But this tug-of-war is unsustainable. If we don’t allow the other side the opportunity to initiate positive change, we doom ourselves to live within systems that are already failing us.

How do we move forward?

If more of us realized that we’re part of the problem too, we’d get out of this mess more quickly. So maybe it starts with accountability for our words, actions, and lack of action.

As for my personal accountability, here are some things that I know that I can do better:

• Not taking enough action for those things I want to see grow and against whatever I’m not in alignment with. While I do take action, I know I can do better.

• Not asking enough questions to better understand certain issues and where others are coming from in their decision-making.

• Sometimes going too far down the rabbit hole to where I don’t pull back enough. I need to better engage and utilize my energies elsewhere for a counterbalance.

•  Using my words and speaking my truth with as much self-control and courage as possible.

  One thing we can likely agree on is that we ALL need to use our voice to bring balance to the more radical sides of both parties that are fracturing our ideas of what’s true about our fellow countrymen that we don’t agree with.
  
  Hopefully, we can do this in a more humane, respectful manner so what’s true about what the average person actually believes is more out in open. I, personally, would rather have it out in plain sight than to force it underground where I can’t see it.
  
  Being accountable means acknowledging our biases, our judgments, and the ways we’ve contributed to the divisions we see. It means striving to withhold judgment while remaining attentive to what people say they intend to do. Sometimes, when those intentions feel wrong or harmful, it’s important to act preemptively to prevent them from unfolding. At the same time, we want to stop the fear-mongering of our scary fantasies before they’ve even been addressed.
  
  Balancing patience with discernment is key—watching, listening, and responding thoughtfully, rather than reacting out of fear or assumption. It means recognizing that no one is perfect—not the candidates, not the parties, and certainly not me/us.

We’ve been practicing for this moment all along. The question is: Are we ready to rise above our divisions and choose better for all of us instead of just ourselves? Our selfishness is creating divisions between us.

Love and unity can’t exist only for those who agree with us. If we truly want change, we need to extend grace, keep the rules the same for everyone, while letting go of the tensions that are keeping us stuck.

Take a deep breath. Loosen your shoulders. Release the tension. Clear your mind.

Now, let’s figure this out together.

Wherever you sit in this process, please know that I hold space for you. My wish is that you are surrounded by courage, empowerment, and purpose for this is a very important time for all of us.

Meanwhile, I’d like to leave you with this article that talks about why we need to do something different because what we’re doing is making things worse.

—>Why understanding the other side is more important than ever ←

---

---

New media resources

Quit supporting the spin
Let’s take a detour to look for more honest news sources even when what they say makes us uncomfortable. This helps us break out of our echo chambers to unravel what we’re so certain about while challenging our own bias and opening our minds up to the larger nuances of the story of what might be happening.

Here are some links to some resources that I’ve found that attempt to be more balanced and less biased in their reporting or at the very least, openly rank stories on the spectrum from left to right while sharing both perspectives.

AllSides.com

Join 1440

Ground.news

Breaking Points

Tangle

Starts with us

The Lever (Recently, I ran into this publication. I haven’t received it long enough to know whether I think they’re biased or not but so far, I’ve liked what I’ve seen.)

Better yet, cut out the middle man and go directly to the source
Even better, quit going to the talking heads for translations spin on what they’re saying that others are saying that they’re saying. This is flat out gossip and we know where gossip leads.

Most of these politicians and people in the news have their own channels. Go directly to them without the filters of others to find out what they really think, believe, and want to do.

I’ll leave you with these thoughts which are a constant source of grounding intention for me.

One of my all-time favorite books which always brings me back to myself

Community Questions

How are you feeling post election? Anyone else have mixed feelings?

What are you struggling with most post-election?