Biden Anxiety and how to cope with it

3 pieces of practical advice to help you regain your equanimity

No question that in the days since the Presidential debate, every conversation I have with a friend is focused on two questions: 1) can President Biden possibly win? and 2) will he step down and allow someone else to run?

The questions are asked with dread and based on facts: Donald Trump is now favored to win; he’s only narrowly ahead but his margin is growing; more states that Democrats need to win are now up for grabs. Maybe we are even in for a Republican landslide.

Then my friends ask me for answers and assurances. I can’t offer either—and neither can anyone else. No-one knows how this election will play out.

Yet I do know two things.

First, very few people can reach Biden’s ear. None of us, personally, can choose the nominee.

Second, that’s ok and it doesn’t matter, because the meaningful work I can do has not changed. I am still in control of how I involve myself in this election. I have chosen to be part of a deep canvassing team in Philadelphia. We are motivating to vote the large number of people who dislike Trump but often miss elections, even Presidential elections. Every time we talk with voters one-on-one, we connect (or re-connect) them to politics. Then they notice how the choice before us matters, because it will affect the lives of the people they love. Then they are glad for our help with the practicalities: how to register to vote, how to sign up to vote by mail.

When I remember what I do have control over, and what I don’t, I’m less anxious, more normal. I stay focused on the positive and practical things I can do at the margin, where it matters. For if this election remains close, a small number of voters will choose a President and government for all of us.

So the first thing you can do to be less depressed and stressed is to stop reading multiple pundits a day, stop fulminating, and get off the sidelines. Start doing the political work that works. It involves talking one-on-one with other human beings, engaging either strangers or people you know. The most life-affirming way to do this is to find a canvass team and start canvassing. And if you want to have a more genuine, reciprocal, respectful and effective conversations, find a deep canvass team and try deep canvassing.

Fret less. Do more. Start now; and you can save the country and save yourself, all at the same time. Nothing more quickly helps you regain your hope than when you see with your own eyes that you just won another vote against Trump.

The second thing you can do to shake or lessen your anxiety is to remember why stopping Trump matters so much to you. Don’t inventory his every venal act and utterance; you’ll never finish. Instead, remind yourself of what seems to you to be the most heinous moment of Trump’s Presidency, one you will never forget.

Mine is Charlottesville. When I want to remember why I fight and fight and fight to stop Trump, I remember the white supremacists and Nazis he called “very fine people” after they provocatively marched against Jews and people of color. Thanks to my friend and video editing wizard Dan Elortegui, here is a 1-minute video clip that helps me never forget:

The third thing you can do: don’t demand perfection before you get involved. Is Biden a flawed nominee? He sure is. Is every Democrat imperfect? I think that’s likely. Will the campaign make mistakes? Daily. But if you wait for a savior, you won’t find equanimity till the afterlife.

Audre Lorde wrote a great poem that concisely expressed her take on political action. It’s short. You could commit it to memory:

            Do not wait to be motivated.

            Do Not Wait to be motivated.

            Do you understand that we do not have time to be inspired.

            We must work now.

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If you want to join us deep canvassing in Philadelphia motivating non-voters to vote, go to the website for Changing the Conversation Together at https://ctc4progress.org/events/ We would gladly welcome your help and, as you will see, we have deep canvasses coming up July 20 and 21 and August 3, 4, 10, 11 and Labor Day.