Holding space for election emotions
Taking a moment to pause and reflect on active undoings, in community
We’ve had a few days to adjust now, and the political reality is setting in after last week’s US elections. Many readers of this newsletter no doubt feel gutted. We learned that the U.S. government will be run by climate deniers, pillagers of public lands, and deregulators poised to roll back critical protections of our air, water, and soil. Meanwhile, private prison stocks are soaring, the world’s 10 wealthiest people have pocketed $64 billion in gains, and “Project 2025” could make national meteorological and climate data access go dark by dismantling NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the National Weather Service – an absurd level of shooting oneself in the foot that would be hard to believe in a fictional drama. For forward movement on biodiversity protection and sane climate policies, especially right after Biden pushed forth the most ambitious climate policy yet adopted (the Inflation Reduction Act), this election is undeniably regressive. For women’s and LGBTQ+ and migrants’ and minoritized people’s rights, it is both dire and deadly. In a world obsessed with the entangled forces of acceleration and numbness, where do we find the space and capacity to truly feel the full weight of what’s happening?
Design by Gen Dread.
Slowing down to absorb the implications
Collective trauma specialist Thomas Hübl wrote something that really stuck with me in his introduction to the new edited volume from Steffi Bednarak called Climate, Psychology, and Change, and I think it’s a useful idea for us at this perilous moment. That is:
“The response of our industrialized, hegemonic leadership is fueled by hyperactivation and stress, which underlies the collective trauma, constituting the sand in the engine of our current immobilization. The first critical step is to slow down so that we may better formulate the appropriate, integrated response to this urgency. Only in slowing down - while consciously responding to the urgency - will we heal and integrate what underlies our current [collective] trauma.”
So this week we invite you to take a pause and explore what’s going on inside you so the gritty sand can be released from the engine.
As we intend to make space for whatever is being felt out there in our Gen Dread reader community, here are some prompts for you to reply to in the comments, if it feels right:
How do these election results make you feel? How are you faring, holding it all?
What kinds of conversations, practices, rituals, or spaces might help you feel supported and clarify how you want to show up at this time?
If relevant: how do you want to approach others’ in your community who might not feel the same as you about this election and what do you think might be needed in those relationships?
Thanks for sharing, we would love to hear how you’re doing.
If you liked reading this, feel free to click the ❤️ button on this post so more people can discover it 🙏🏼.
‘Till next time!
>Britt & Gen Dread
I seem to have entered a kind of denial right after the election results, clear proof of which is that I managed to sleep quite well the following few nights. I still feel some of that denial, but it is gradually being replaced by a new, large "dark cloud" that is starting to be quite present in my everyday. Addressing that cloud emotionally will definitely be necessary. I continue my climate related work, but I question its usefulness much more than I did before the elections. I hope to get to the other side of these dark thoughts and emotions soon. Meeting and discussing with other people will be key, I think/hope.
1. I initially felt as if I had been kicked in the stomach when I awoke around 2 in the morning and checked on line. After returning to bed and tossing and turning, when I woke up in the morning I had a bit of a feeling of calm acceptance, realizing I have been through this before and survived. I in fact experienced considerable emotional growth from 2016 to 2024. Last time, in 2016 , I went through a 3 month depression until the women's march. I then got politically active and in 2024 Georgia voted for Biden AND we sent 2 Democratic Senators to Washington who later would vote for the Inflation Reduction Act.
2. I have a group of 7 to 8 men who understand the delima facing humanity and the planet who get together for breakfast twice a month. I also have increase my time outdoors on walks in the woods with my dog. I also try to focus on the many good things in nature from clouds to bumble bees and kingfishers....
3. I would like to approach them with love and understanding once if feel like my anger is under enough control. I am having to deal with a sharp division between my wife and our 50 yr. old daughter who voted for Trump. The anger is over not just her vote, but concern we are prejudicing our grandchildren against their parents. For the first time, Thanksgiving will be a separate event for our family this year. In a way, while sad, I'm okay with this as the best short term solution.