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 🙏🏼.

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‘Till next time!

>Britt & Gen Dread