Surviving Post-Election Grief

Whether you are Hillary supporter or just an “anti-Trumpite” you are probably reeling from the results of the election. Waking up to see that the candidate you vehemently opposed actually won was probably shocking and upsetting.

You may have been in utter disbelief. Maybe you thought there were still more votes to be counted or that if those few states that remained gray on that graphic were tabulated that the results would flip the other way. Maybe there would be a recount of some key states. After all, it has been
a tight race, there is still hope right?

Once you realized that this was indeed the final result, you may have felt extremely angry. How could America choose him? How did he ever get in the running in the first place? How can someone who is so negative possibly lead our country in a positive way? Perhaps you started to blame others for this result. Maybe if people didn’t vote for the other two candidates, Hillary would have won. Or you blamed the people that voted for Trump for being Trump supporters, “how could they?” you say in anger.

Next you start trying to find a way to make it okay and feel less helpless. You say, I’m sure Congress will not let him do everything he said he was going to do. You think, I’ll write to my congressman and make things right. Or “Dear God, let him get impeached! I promise I will do all I can do to be a perfect person.”

Once you realize that this is a new reality and nothing is going to change immediately, you might feel really sad and hopeless. You are sure we as a country, cannot survive and this is so unfair. You might be walking around in a daze or just feel like crawling into a hole and hiding away from everything.

Finally, as time goes by, you will learn to function in this new normal and accept that Trump is our president. Maybe you will even start to find some positives in his administration, or at least you will hope that four years goes by quickly.
Also, you may continue to experience any of these thoughts and feelings again and again for some time. Guess what? This is a completely normal process to reacting to grief and loss, something we all experience with all changes!

The typical stages of grief are:

• Denial and isolation
• Anger and blame
• Bargaining
• Depression
• Acceptance and Hope

Go back and evaluate your thoughts and feelings and see how they fit with these stages. Some will experience these stages more intensely than other people, there is no wrong way. Remember everyone is different and some people process more quickly and get to acceptance faster, that is okay. The key is to recognize the stages and normalize your reactions. That is step one in coping with the results of the election.

There are other ways to cope as well.

• Surround yourself with supportive and positive people
• Give yourself permission to feel all of your feelings, but take care of yourself. Do the things that make you feel good and are healthy choices.
• Focus on things that you can control: Being kind, choosing happiness, advocating for others, and staying positive.
• Join a local cause where you feel you can make a difference in your community.

All in all, know that you will recover from this election and that you are not alone. Our country has experienced many tragedies in the past and we always recover. Surviving a Trump administration is not impossible.

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