Election Stress

c.http://i3.kym-cdn.com

 “Man, we can’t let Romney win,” I overheard someone say at one end of the coffeeshop, “This country will go to hell faster than a coon can scamper up a tree.”

I moved over to the other side of the shop, where I basically heard the same discussion.

“If Obama wins, I’m moving to Canada. He’s a socialist.”

With less than a month until the election, many people are finding themselves very stressed out. The thought that their guy might not win is sending many into a frenzy. I can’t even imagine what the candidates are going through.

The stakes are high, the polls are close.

For those who are panicking, it is sometimes helpful to read history’s account of tight elections in the past. This is nothing new. I’ve been reading a lot of WW2 history, and am realizing that nothing really changes. Political discord has always been a part of what makes America great. It makes for great art.

• Give your information flow a rest. Turn off the cable news, or talk radio. An update is okay; constant bombardment, however, will quite possibly drive you crazy.

• We’ve all lived through a “bad” presidency. We’ve all lived through a time when our president of choice was not in office, and we survived it. Maybe grudgingly, but we survived it. We will do so this time as well. It will make SNL much funnier to us.

• It will rouse the other side. The team who didn’t win will work harder on solutions. It can often be just the kick in the pants they need to really get their plans in high gear.

• And if you really, really don’t like the turnout, there’s always Canada….

c.2012