I’ve been thinking about Election Day 2020 since Election Day 2016, and now it’s here!
I’m going to spend Election Day 2020 with my fingers crossed, working and watching from home, and probably capturing images like these:
How are you going to spend Election Day 2020?
I’ve already spent part of Election Day 2020 looking for music to share in this post. Here is “Election day BIDEN HARRIS Music video: ALL ON THE LINE” by Andres Useche.
I’ll also be spending Election Day 2020 expressing gratitude for all who helped me get here, including YOU.
As a clinical social worker, I cannot prescribe antidepressants, so I talk to people about other types of antidepressants, which I like to call “personal medicine.”
Do you see any antidepressants here?
For me, all those images are antidepressants, including that homemade, well-worn window sign that says “THANK YOU HEALTH CARE WORKERS.”
What are your antidepressants, these days?
Music is an antidepressant for many. Here are Blood, Sweat & Tears performing “Manic Depression” in 1980:
Comments are also antidepressants for me, so I look forward to taking that personal medicine later today.
As always, gratitude is an antidepressant, so thanks to all (including YOU) who help me combat depression with this daily blog!
Gliding past President Donald Trump’s sexist depictions of her as “mean” and “nasty,” the senator from California shredded Trump’s White House record with the agility that comes from her years as a courtroom prosecutor. Yet she delivered those critiques with bright notes of hope and optimism — accentuated by the smiles that are expected from female politicians.
… and because of this mask:
I’m also thinking of the smiles (and other facial expressions) I’ve been having about “We Have Her Back” , a memo sent by a coalition of powerful women to the news media calling for anti-sexist and anti-racist reporting, which includes this:
“Women have been subject to stereotypes and tropes about qualifications, leadership, looks, relationships and experience. Those stereotypes are often amplified and weaponized for Black and Brown women.”
I smile thinking how often the current President of my group therapy organization and I tell each other that we’ve got each others backs. I also smile thinking about this bag I gave her last year:
Now, my smiles are related to all the pre-pandemic photos I went through in order to find that one.
On this really ____ day, how would you fill in the blank in today’s title?
Yesterday, I woke up thinking it was going to be a really difficult, depressing, demoralizing, down, distressing, disheartening, discouraging, and dismal day (and those were just the d-words I had in my mind). After I wrote yesterday’s blog post, I felt better, but I still thought it was going to be a really difficult, etc. day. And my day became less disheartening but still difficult as I worked with people in individual and group therapy.
Then, when it was announced that Joe Biden‘s running mate would be Kamala Harris, the whole day really changed for me and I really believed this mug I’d been using during that previously really down day:
For me, trust turns a really bad day into a really good one. What about you?
It’s going to be a really ____ day, according to my other photos:
It’s going to be a really distant day when I go to a mall again.
It’s going to be a really weird day when I forget to share music with you. Here‘s “Good Day” written by Nik Day, sung by Liahona Olayan, and featured in the 2020 Youth Music Festival …
While I was waiting to see Dr. Homoud for the first time, I noticed all this:
I’ve gone from heartbreak to happiness about my unusual congenital heart disorder many, many times during my almost sixty-six years on this planet. At this point, after a miraculous and happy time when my heart reverted to a normal rhythm after my valve replacement surgery in 2016, my heart is back in atrial fibrillation for the rest of my life. I have no heartbreak about that, only happiness because of my caring and committed team of cardiologists.
Do you see any paths from heartbreak to happiness in my other photos from yesterday?
My boyfriend Michael (who makes my heart happy with his nutritious, delicious, low-salt home-cooked meals) helps me go from heartbreak to happiness, every day. Last night, after a typical heartbreak-to-happiness-to-heartbreak-to-happiness day, we danced to this:
What helps you go from heartbreak to happiness? For me, gratitude always helps.
