Our Emotions and the Election

My daughter cried the morning of November 11, 2016 when I told her Donald Trump was going to be president.  She was upset by the news she heard about him misbehaving around women, and was afraid to have him as president. 

I tried to be measured in how to explain to her to be effective with responding to creating change.  She wanted to move to Britain.  I explained that running away from our scary feelings is not the best way to deal with them.  Sometimes we need to face our feelings.

How can we deal with our negative feelings of fear as they arise? Instead of telling my daughter to stop feeling a certain way, I entertained her idea of running from this presidency.  Moving would be difficult.  We would have to put our pets in quarantine, get visas, jobs, and housing.  That might be more difficult than signing a petition and voting, or protecting ourselves and others from difficulty.

I then honored her feelings as useful information.  I explained that any man who talks about women the way he does or walks into dressing rooms, should be avoided.  Her emotions led us to a discussion of which situations she should engage with and which ones she should avoid. 

I explained her feelings, and my feelings can motivate us to be the change we want to see in this country.

As a parent, I realize that these emotions are warning signs we need to listen to and prepare ourselves for.  There is a purpose for emotions, and these emotions tell us about our values.  I explained this to my daughter and she felt proud of her feelings, and now I hope she will listen to her feelings in the future.