If you live in America, today is a big day. The Presidential election has finally arrived.
If you don’t live in America, you’re probably watching this election with some degree of stress as well given that our choices at the ballot box play a role on the world stage.
Here’s my advice to you: vote and then find something useful to do. Personally, I voted days ago because I always worry that something will prevent me from doing it in person and I wasn’t missing this one. I have a busy workday ahead of me followed by a hair cut after work. I will welcome the distraction and hope that it’s enough to keep my mind free of worry and stress.
If you can, I suggest you find some way to achieve the same goal. Go for a walk. Better yet, go into nature for a long hike and time with the squirrels. Turn on some good tunes and use that nervous energy to clean your house or organize a closet.
If you voted, you did your part. Now it’s out of your hands so let it go and try focusing your attention on something that will improve your day or someone else’s. Worrying won’t make it better.
PS – The above photo is from a 1943 era cabin that once housed WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service). You can see this cabin and many other interesting things at Carillon Park in Dayton. Approximately 100,000 of these WAVES volunteers helped to win the war and I always find comfort in this cabin. I like this scene with the flag.
This picture is a statue in Nashville’s Centennial Park. It celebrates the ratification of the 19th amendment which gave white women the right to vote. These suffragettes serve as a reminder that our right to take part in the electoral process is as a hard fought win and should not be taken for granted.