# 59 Cover Your Bases: Election Day Lead Up: What Distractions Are Working? And My Plan for Tuesday Night
Yeah, it's a white-knuckle moment
Hello! How are you holding up? I’m heading into survival mode around Tuesday's Election; my tension has become so great I need effective avoidance tactics.
Here’s what is working for me right now:
GETTING TO TUESDAY
VOTING: done!
News Diet–Avoiding Media, Polls, Pundits
No news stories
No news on TV
Careful and limited consumption of pieces by Heather Cox Richardson, Seth Abramson, Timothy Snyder, Etc.
Distractions:
Planning My Fall Wardrobe (including shopping in my closet)
Binging Elin Hilderbrand romance novels (this is a world where all problems are related to cake or romance, not cognitively impaired Fascists.)
Exercise: Walking, Hiking, Working Out
Watching movies and media: The Martha documentary on Netflix is fantastic, and The Lincoln Lawyer is back.
TUESDAY NIGHT
I made a voting plan for my ballot, but I have also made one for election night (advice welcomed). Here’s how it’s evolving so far:
7-8 PM: Election Night local party for a candidate I supported, Lateefah Simon
8 PM-9 PM: Go out and eat some food in a spot with no streaming media.
9 PM-11 PM: Watch a movie and work on my text thread sharing with family and friends. Check Internet news, but not CNN, MSNBC, or other click porn.Like, ALL of it.
11 PM: GO TO BED. GO TO BED NO MATTER WHAT. PLEASE GO TO BED AND DO NOT STAY UP AGONIZING OVER THE INEVITABLE INSANE DRAMA.
1 AM: Wake up stressed and fight with myself about not checking the news. Go the F back to sleep.
What is the best coping plan for you? Please share! I need more help, here.
Warmly,
Susan
I’ve been binging crazy fantasy / sci-fi films as my coping mechanism. Not my normal go to but somehow the bonkers plots allows me to escape the anxiety for a few hours at a time.
We have been working our way through the 2005-present Dr. Who reboot. There's a lot of world-ending stuff and we skip some episodes that are too heavy, but overall it's good fun and just bad enough that it doesn't seem real.