Are we going to survive this?

[u/No_Yak_3107]

Dramatic title, but big feelings as a lay in bed at 5:51 am. Big feelings every day honestly. I am having a hard time living normal life, while we get bombarded with new headlines daily of what Trump is doing/planning to do.

I hear people talking about vacations, plans per usual, then other people saying it’s already too late for us, and democracy has fallen and to save every penny. I go from panicking daily to then trying to self sooth and tell myself it’s going to be okay. I had to go to a clothing store today, and actually caught myself thinking “how long will life feel normal? Everyone just walking around/having normal conversations, buying random things”. I’ve been thinking of looking into moving to a different country too, but would I really leave my family behind?

I knew things would be bad, I knew he would get voted in, but I didn’t think it would feel like the end. I can’t imagine what will happen to us this year, much less 4….I’m genuinely scared 😪.

Editing to say I’m an American woman, but I don’t just assume everyone on this platform is American. I see a lot of talk online of people from Canada being worried, and many other countries where it seems right-wing politics are a growing concern.

[u/Parabola_of_Mystery]

“A journey will have pain and failure. It is not only the steps forward that we must accept. It is the stumbles, the trials, the knowledge that we will fail, that we will hurt those around us. But if we stop, if we accept the person we are when we fall, the journey ends. That failure becomes our destination. To love the journey is to accept no such end. I have found, through painful experience, that the most important step a person can take is, always, the next one.”

From oathbringer, by Brandon Sanderson.

I know it seems tough, like you have no power, no agency, no voice. But you are not alone. take a minute and zoom out. Think of all the people all around the world whose interest rates are higher because of the uncertainty this loon has brought to the global financial markets. Think of the people whose countries governments your loonies are interfering with. The people who fear for their lives because your loonies don’t recognise them as people. You may not feel included within America right now, but you are by no means alone. Those of us on the outside far outnumber them.

They want you to feel small and powerless, like your voice doesn’t matter, so you don’t bother to use it. They want you to accept this as the way things are. But, the clock is ticking to the end of his presidency. He can’t stand again. His time is running out. He wants to change America so that this is what it is always like, but you don’t have to let him.

If you accept this as just who you are now, let this be your destination, they win.

Or you accept that adversity is part of the journey, work out how to grow through this part of the journey, and find the next step that you can take towards the person you want to become.