How are you doing... really?

[Modem Butterfly]

Come, sit down by the fire for a moment.

There, doesn't that feel good? Can I get you some tea, maybe some Lemon Zinger? Perhaps you'd like something a bit stronger, perhaps some Irish Coffee?

Okay. Now that we're comfortable, I'd like to open up and share with you, and I hope you feel like sharing with me.

How are you doing... really?

Everyone has their story of election night, and the immediate aftermath. Me, I cried for a long, long time. I work in a predominantly African American company. These people understand what it's like to get screwed over. The grief still hangs in the air here.

Sometimes, I feel feisty, ready to run up to Ohio and count the ballots myself. Othertimes, I feel very, very sad. I've been doing a lot of cooking, though my partner and I don't have much of an appetite these days. I bring food to my elderly neighbor. She remembers WWII, McCarthyism, Jim Crow, ERA. But even she's depressed.

I've picked myself up from the place where I fell, but sometimes, I still stand in the middle of the road wondering where to go next.

So how are you doing... really?

[Search Party]

1. mad as a hornet! we concede NOTHING!

to the death!

[pdx_prog]

2. Still have a knot in my stomach...

[bif]

3. Shitty

I'm still pretty depressed about the whole thing.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. Getting there.

Scared for my country. National insanity is hard to deal with.

Methinks they really know not what they do, so they are simply playing jazz.

[Vincardog]

5. I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it any more.

To quote aWol "This is WAR and they started it". Speaking for myself The blood is on their hands.

[Southsideirish]

6. Not well - even with my cute new hairdo. Feeling very miserable!

And pissed!

[kick-ass-bob]

7. right now i am hungry.

And I forgot the kids' halloween candy.
x(

[warrens]

8. Sorta happy

The chickens are coming home to roost in the form of a disastrous war and trillions in national debt. While I wish neither had happened, at least the right party is going to get ALL the blame when things go totally kerfluey.

That Punk is going to be remembered as the country's worst president ever, and half the people who voted for him will never go near a voting booth again.

[Kierkegaard]

9. I'm standing in the middle of that same road...

and there's a big ass truck coming.

[skygazer]

10. The Irish coffee sounds good

Which should tell you something. ~sigh~ Alternately pissed as hell and very down with brief moments of irrational optimism. Glad in a way that I'm not working right now but I sometimes think it would be better if I was - I'd have something to focus on besides the above feelings.

[kostya]

11. I feel fine. Really!

Knowing that this election cycle I did about 10 times as much activism as in the past for Kerry took most of the sting out of the defeat for me. Sure, it sucks big-time that we are going to get Cheneyed up the arse, but such is the nature of the times I'm afraid. These are times (for all sides actually!) to remember the ever-changing, cyclical nature of life and history. It won't stay like this forever, there is no equilibrium, even though it might seem so with our short life spans.

Replace longing and resentment with gratitude and acceptance, respectively. Continue your personal and community work for a better world. It's infectious! Chill for a bit, do something nice for yourself and others, look forward to a better time while staying in the present. My 2 cents...

- K

:think:

[NYC Liberal]

12. I am actually numb.

Lot of anger, countered by a lot of depression.

[KittyWampus]

13. For The First Time Today, I Feel Despondant & Am Crying

[Pithlet]

14. I'm doing better.

I'm past the sobbing like a baby part. Working through the bitterness. Over the urge to flee to Canada. Also looking toward the future, and how we will beat these bastards. I really do believe it is possible this was their last big victory for a long time. We still have the next 4 years to slog through, and it will take time to fix things. So, I don't think everything is rosy. It is a setback. But, it isn't necessarily forever.

[DrZeeLit]

15. Thanks for the tea and sympathy. I agree...

...I'm rather depressed. I, too, cried. I didn't want to go back to work. I heard that the hallways on Wednesday were like a morgue, and they weren't that much better on Thursday.

I got to my office and cried with the secretaries. Then I went to my classes and tried to be cheerful. I gave a fine lecture and let them out early. One of my gay students looked awful. I called him over for a hug. We cried, too. He is so afraid. He wants to run to another country, but he can't even afford the education he's getting now. I tried to give him solace.

I remember how I felt when I worked for RFK when I was in high school, about ready for college. How "up" I was after the CA primary, and how "down" I was the next day, and thereafter. Oh, 1968 was a horrible year! But I was young and idealistic and there was a battle raging that wouldn't stop for all my tears and sadness.

I need to find that place again. That place inside myself that has the will to fight. I know it's in there! I'm down now, but I am not down and out. I am considering the winter as a time for renewal.

I will stand for my students and be a mentor and a voice in the wilderness. I really do believe ... I really do believe.

[ContraBass Black]

16. The Election coincides

With other difficulties coming into my life. I sometimes yell obscenities by accident. Right now, I have none of my usual eloquent drive, or passionate devotion to a better future--just a bitter, smoldering rage.

[Menshevik]

17. still feel like shit

and I have a presentation for a class tomorrow x(

Hmmm guess I should get off DU and work on it...

Unless anyone wants to outline the major obstacles to Gorbachev's perestroika for me? ;)

[TX-RAT]

18. Not my first election, won't be my last

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

19. I am generally in one of three states of mind at any time

1. Gleeful abandon. Sort of an "it's over, what the fuck" attitude. The election took up all my time and life, mental and emotional energy for over a year, so in a way, win or lose, it's a relief it's all "over." So I've found myself playing board games, singing Christmas songs, watching old movies and really enjoying them, etc.

2. Totally pissed off.

3. Sad. But the sadness is really fading. No more tears. Only anger and "fuck it"ness.

Thanks. Good thread. And thank you for asking. :hug:

[kayell]

20. I'm having mood swings, on top of my usual seasonal problems

I still haven't cried and I probably need to.

Depression, optimism, anger, anxiety, you name it, I've probably cycled through it in the last couple of hours.

:cry: :grr: :crazy: :wtf: :hangover: :scared: :shrug: :tinfoilhat:

[helnwhls]

21. tired, angry

I want to work. This is the first time I have been unemployed since I was 15. I send resumes out into the void and nothing happens. I call employment agencies just to be ignored. the current admin tells me to stop whining. I gotta stop dwelling. I'll do some laundry.