My Election Reflection

*****ATTENTION*****

Please take 5 minutes to make space for yourself to do what you need to do to get comfortable.

Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to clear your head.

It's important to be totally present before reading this post as it may make you feel some type of way.

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This has been one of the hardest years on all of us in a long time. This year has been difficult not just in one way but in many ways involving really complex issues. Going through lockdown has been hard on everyone's mental health. For some people, they had a loss of income. Some folks had to go through the beginning of the lockdown physically isolated from everyone while other folks where living with multiple people in the home. While some families lost the ability to feed themselves and their families, others panic bought in bulk. In some homes, the abuse became more frequent due to tighter restrictions. For others this meant mixing their home life with their work life by shifting into virtual spaces. People lost their loved ones very quickly and unexpectedly this year. A lot of people got sick. Some of them were able to fight the virus but many couldn't recover.

We have all been thrown into a new reality without any preparation or any understanding of how long this would last. As we move into this new space, the anxiety and fear we have been experiencing this year has affected us all differently. We are still moving through it and this winter could be worse than the spring. As we brace for that we are also dealing with the new shift in Presidents. It's important to remember to take time for ourselves. We will all be dealing with the trauma and stress this year has caused for the next several years. The physical social, economic, and political implications that COVID has had on us this year has been exhausting.

WE HAVE ALL EXPERIENCED TRAUMA THIS YEAR.

Acknowledge that. Tell yourself that you have done a good job getting yourself through this tough year. Celebrate that for yourself. Celebrate that for your family and friends. Take a moment to celebrate for every single person on this Earth, that we are lucky enough to have lived through this year. Celebrate that we have lived through the election.

This year the election took center stage over the care of our communities when we needed it most. Keep in mind that though we may feel we have won the fight for social justice...injustice and racism is still a part of the fabric of our society. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris aren't the answer to the problems we are trying to solve. The results only gave us representations of the change we would like to see. When we think about what the future looks like, our goal is to heal. There seems to be this idea that by the end of all this "it will all be fixed" and the issue with that is, you have no idea the mental and physical toll that years of historical oppression has on a person. It's hard to walk around with the knowledge that people like you were killed, beaten, sold, raped, jailed, put to work, taken away from your family, or sent to prison camps. Those lived experiences and cross-generational trauma has contributed to high rates of addiction, poverty, suicide and mental illness.

By implementing systems that cater to the mental health and prosperity of our communities on a local community-based level that supports the local land reclamation of indigenous peoples.

If we were to begin implementing these services and practices, it would not fix the problem by itself, but it would be a great place to start.

In order to make the society we just voted for, we have to be the change. It's not easy to start over and I don't think people fully understand and are emotionally prepared to do this work. The vote showed that the citizens of the United States will stop at nothing to make their values heard. This vote was based on fear and years of white guilt. Racism is not solved by electing a white man president just because his vice president is a woman of color. We must also acknowledge that while electing Biden and Harris into office is a step towards our global future, we still fed into the elitist political system.

Nobody running in this 2020 Presidential election had a resume that most people were thrilled about. As a society, the rational thing would have been to take a step back and say .... neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump represent our future. We need to start asking ourselves the uncomfortable questions because it is the people to blame for this continued system of white supremacy. Do you not see the systemic racism yet? Once Donald Trump leaves office, will there be investigations held for all the charges against him while in office? If the answer is no, are we going to check the governments accountability?

We are the people .... now what?

Think about your actions. If your actions inflict pain and suffering on someone else, step aside and let yourself heal before you put your pain onto anyone else. It's our job to call ourselves and each other out when we see injustice. It's our job to learn to fail successfully. It's our job to learn and work in community with others. It's our job to educate ourselves.

Our future is not the industrial revolution, that is our past. That was the phase our society was in before 2020. Now, we are in a new phase. We are no longer being led by a generation with Eurocentric and industrial value systems who thinks only about our past. Our future is a global generation that innovates for the success of future generations. Politics is not the place for people who don't know how to keep up with the times and adapt to new situations.

It's truly amazing to see people come together in spite of so much chaos. Everybody has experienced trauma this year no matter how intense your experience was, everyone all experienced this together and that's what makes it so unique. I know that since the beginning of lockdown back in March, people have been finding ways to have open dialogues about mental health. Unifying over important issues that holds significant value to your life and the life of your loved ones is what politics is about. That being said, it disgusts me when any group unifies and chooses to diminish and place blame on the other. If you blame a problem on the other, you are not helping to create solutions or building open communication. Even if you see an issue that doesn't apply to you, ask how you can help. Stand up in respect for those who are working hard everyday to help others and grow forward.

Who was this country built for? Who was this country built by? Who was already here?

When reflecting on this question, remember that the promise of equality or the intention to value other peoples worth is not what will move us forward. We have to create the steps for what we do next because we have to teach ourselves things that we don't fully understand.

Our society was built not to cater to the well-being and mental health of all citizens but built for greed and pride. The current system is built on an individualistic and capitalistic Eurocentric value system where money is more important than home and relationships and well-being. Prior to this system, there were other systems in place that worked towards building a sense of community and we can't learn to grow into that without first taking the time to slow down and heal ourselves and our communities. Growth and development will have to be our priority.

As we begin this new period of growth, learning the customs, history, politics of communities of people different and far away from your own is challenging. It's hard work that takes practice and a lot of personal reflection to be able to come into a space with anyone from anywhere in the world and listen from a place of love and respect. This process takes more time than people think and isn't over just because we show one act of care for our communities. We must learn how to understand our own pain, biases, traumas in order to comfortable if that space were to exist. This new reality is going to take time and a lot of effort. Yes it will fail, but we will sit back and reflect before trying again. Yes it will be hard, but we are willing to practice and do the work. It's time we become comfortable with being uncomfortable.

If we can learn anything from the next few years, I hope it is a path in the direction of growth and healing. I hope we learn how to stand up and fight in solidarity. I hope we can hold space to empathize with those around use without embodying that oppression within ourselves. I have hope that more people will begin to understand the importance that voting has in our democracy.

Remember to breathe. Take space for yourself. Give love to those around you. Go outside. Vote.