Relief is the word I’ve hear the most from friends, family, fellow-Americans who have been on the amygdala hijack roller-coaster for the last few freaky election months – or more like the last four fraught political years – which has felt like an EON!
Relief’s the huge exhale we feel after holding our breath – holding in the anger, grief, sorrow, loss, rage.
“One of the fall-outs of modern capitalism,” says my yoga guru, Alicia Moyer (https://aliciamoyer.com) “is the privatization of our feelings.” That hits home. And, thanks to the pandemic pandemonium, we’ve gotten even more isolated and contained.
So what a contrast it was, this past Saturday, to be out at Black Lives Matter Plaza with my fellow citizens, in the bright blue Indian summer day, the White House at my back, jumping, dancing, singing and shouting for pure joy (though masked, of course)!
Then, on Sunday, watching Kamala Harris on the big screen, standing tall, smiling broadly, speaking boldly, my heart was about to burst with hope and pride, feelings I most definitely keep private, even from myself.
We women have come close before; but she’s finally broken the barrier and is inviting the rest of us to come along…
“Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourselves in a way that others may not, simply because they’ve never seen it before, but know that we will applaud you every step of the way.”
Hooray!
But then, Tuesday evening, driving back from a doctor’s appointment, I catch a sound bite over the radio, which I loathe to even quote. In so many words, said pompous Mike Pompeo: We’re preparing for a successful transition into the NEXT four years of the Trump administration.
“What?!” I blurted aloud, my adrenaline surging back upward, my hand gripping the steering wheel, expletives spewing onto the windshield. “This is not over!”
Caught in wishful, magical thinking, I was so ready to move on.
I should know better. Change – important, transformative change – doesn’t happen that easily.
Think about the women’s suffrage movement – SEVENTY years in the fighting. The women who started the movement were long dead when women finally won the right to vote. And it was by only one single congressional vote. Watch this American Experience series if you want to know what a real fight is. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/vote/#part01
So I’m psyching myself up – and I’m psyching you up.
Yes, we voted, and have the stickers to prove it.
But it’s not enough.
We’ve made this mistake before. We get our guy in, then we step away, brush our hands clean, relinquishing our power to the powers that be, and go back to business as usual.
But they are our representatives – not gods, or anything close.
Now our work begins. What does that look like for you? For me?
What’s your hot issue? What are your skills? What organization’s do you support already with your donations – but for which you could do more?
I feel the pressure.
A new year is around the corner.
2020 sure has been rough – but we’re almost through. We’re still sequestered by COVID-19 – but we’re tough – and there’s more to do.
What’s your vision for 2021? How will you make a difference? How will I?
I help my coaching clients with big, juicy questions like these, guiding them through pivotal work and life transitions.
If you work with me, you are forewarned: I’m going to be grilling you on what and how you will contribute to making a difference in our country and world.
I’m only accepting clients right now that are up to that task.
Think of the suffragettes who remind us: “Women weren’t given the vote. We took it.”
Ready to take your power?