What More Can We Do? How to Cultivate Hope Post-Election

This election feels heavy, impossibly heavy. So heavy that many of us are struggling to find the strength to keep our grasp on it. We are exhausted, sick and tired of fighting for our basic rights, let alone our respect, dignity, and right to the pursuit of happiness. Each year the weight and the toll that it all takes seems to push us down bit by bit. 

I’ve noticed this exhaustion in myself as well. If I, someone with training and experience in fighting for social justice, am having trouble keeping my faith and hope in our future, it’s clear that collectively we are struggling. And for reasons that make so much sense. 

Here I could list a whole host of statistics relating to our political climate in the United States: rights that have been stripped from us and our queer kin, bills that have been introduced to do more of the same, numbers of how many of us have had serious medical and mental health crises, or even figures representing those of us who have not survived. 

The weight just feels impossible to bear sometimes…most times. 

So, what more can we do? I have been asking myself this question for years now. For a while it wasn’t so hard to find some positives, possibilities for the future that felt probable. This was back when I was young, fresh, and had so much energy to fight for our rights. As time has marched on and the attacks have worsened and increased, I’ve grown weary. But I also know what we always need in order to make it through another week, day, or hour: hope. Even if it’s just a little, even if it’s a small flickering ember, we need it. 

Where can we find hope? How can we cultivate hope post-election? 

The answer is actually quite clear when you stop and think about it. We can foster hope through connections with others. When we connect with each other and share what we’re carrying, the weight can get distributed and it doesn’t feel so impossible anymore. Just like a conversation with a friend or a smile shared with a stranger can lift up your mood. Safe connections help us remember what hope is, what it feels like, and how to make it grow. 

During this time of great uncertainty I want you to find some hope, as much as you can gather. Cultivating space for hope to grow in all of our queer kin and allies is a cause I believe in so much so that I want to explicitly invite you to join me. Thanks to QueerPsych I will be holding safe spaces for folx to bring their emotions about the current election. We will welcome you, hear you, sit with you, and remind you that you are not walking this path alone. I do hope you’ll join us and that you’ll find a way to cultivate hope post-election.