No matter what side of this election you may have been on…, no matter who your champion was and who your archenemy was, you are likely coming off of a very stressful year.  Even if you do not watch cable news, read your Facebook feed, read comment sections on news sites, listen to the radio, there is little doubt that this divisive election found a way to enter into  your daily life via unrelated conversations with uber drivers, relatives, family, friends, waitstaff, bartenders, pta meetings, etc….  In other words there was no avoiding it, even if you weren’t addicted to watching every headline, tweet, breaking news story, etc…

Now that it’s over, and you’ve completely lost your sense of humor, whether or not your side has won or lost you are tired and beaten down by the endless months of combat.  And now you walk the streets wondering who is on your side and who isn’t.  Now you are wondering where we go from here and if humanity will ever unify.  How do you get back to a sense of normalcy?  You still have your responsibilities to your work, to your business, to your family’s well being.  Here are a few steps to help you return to be a productive worker:

STEP ONE:

Remember that we are all humans.  Say what you will about each of these candidates, but they are both human beings, and the people supporting them are too.  You have been made to believe that the people supporting the opposing candidate have somehow been duped, or are morally deficient, or turn a blind eye to corruption, or are just inherently evil… (amazing how I could write this and still remain ambiguous about which candidate I’m referring to…).   The truth, no matter how difficult it may be for  any of us to acknowledge it, is ….well…murkier.   Humans are humans.  We are layered, complicated, often flawed even when well intentioned.  In other words, let’s try to raise the dialogue above a 1^st grade level and lose the ‘good and evil’ type terminology.  And even if you can’t do that for the candidates (which I understand, really I do) then at least do it for their supporters…  I apologize to everyone for saying this, but… neither of these candidates were perfect.  And that…my friends, is because they are humans – not robots.  If you accept just this truth alone, I guarantee you a little weight will be lifted from your shoulders.   And then…reset.

STEP TWO: 

Laugh.  No matter if your candidate won or lost, it’s time to laugh again.   For starters you may want to just look back at the last year and see how ridiculous this election has been – the coverage, the comments, the circus.  But if that just further disturbs instead of entertaining you then I suggest looking at something completely unrelated.  My wife and I had a blast watching a few youtube videos of Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘Mean Tweets’  last night….where celebrities read out loud mean tweets that people write about them.  Pretty darn funny.  Or watch a silly Jim Carey movie, or if you hate Jim Carey watch a Kate McKinnon skit, Kevin Hart standup, Seth Rogan, Will Ferrell, Chelsea Handler, Louis CK, or …you get the idea.  Try your hand at humor, even if you aren’t that funny.  Case in point, the title of this article indicates that I’ve trademarked “ElectionStress”.  I have not.  It’s a bad attempt at a joke, and likely most people won’t think that’s funny…But I do.   Laughing is a GREAT way to reset.  It may take a few days of laughing, but you’ll get there.

STEP THREE:

Hold your breath for 60 seconds or until you pass out.  Reset.  Please don’t actually do this (see Step Two).

STEP FOUR:

Look up at the sky.  Yes, I’m going full cheeseball on you here, but there is something to be said for gaining a new ‘PERSPECTIVE’.  We are a bunch of organisms on a large rock in an unimaginable universe surrounded by the unknown and undiscovered.  Watch some Neil deGrasse Tyson, or pick up a book about astronomy.  And if that’s too deep for you, then at least read about the world outside of the US.  There are things (terrible and beautiful) happening around the globe at this very moment.  Those terrible and beautiful things will continue to happen over the next 4 years whether or not you got your way in this election.  You, despite locally popular opinion, are not the center of the universe.  Reset.  Now get back to work.