I hope you all had a good weekend either voting or encouraging others to vote.
I saw so many of my friends — both in real life and my social media activist friends — who voted this weekend. I just love those posts!! Plus, I know so many people, myself included, were calling and texting voters to get out the vote. We’ve got 8 more days to do the best we can.
But today, I hope you’ll join me in taking just a few moments to look back on these past 4 years and see where you are now. What changed for you when we lost in 2016? Why are you still here in 2020? And most importantly, what’s something you’ve started doing these past 4 years that you intend to keep doing, no matter if we win or lose?
Most of you know my story. After the devastating loss in 2016, I was awash in worry (along with a dash of panic) and was frozen in place. It was only by a lucky happenstance that when I finally ventured back onto social media after about a week that I ran across a new, pop-up website (run by people who felt like I did) that was posting one small act of resistance people could take every day leading up to the inauguration. It was a protest in miniature. So, I took them up on their challenge and completed one of their actions.
And that’s when the magic happened. I felt great. It was such a marked change in how I had been feeling that I really noticed it. And the lesson became clear: Taking action is the best antidote to worry. I was hooked.
Ever since then, I have learned how to take action, and become an activist, even in small ways. I feel like anyone who takes a step towards making the change they want to see possible, is an activist. And I’ve learned a lot from other activists, mostly women, who have been doing this far longer than I have. I have always voted, but I’ve now taken a step beyond just voting, and I’m keeping it that way.
If we lose, I imagine my life these next 4 years will look a lot like the last 4. But if we win, I’m not hanging up my spurs. No. I will stay focused on bringing attention to the elections that happen off-cycle throughout the year, because those positions matter and they should get more attention. Voting rights has been important to me for a while, but the need to strengthen and expand them has never been more crucial. I plan to fight hard — both at the state and federal level — to secure more voting rights wins. And finally, I will keep trying to demystify how our government and elections work so that more people will think to themselves, “Yes. I can help with that!.” Nothing brings me more pleasure than hearing from one of my readers that they took some kind of action, and describing the joy they felt once they took it.
Well, that and seeing Republicans lose elections. I’ll never tire of that.
So tell me. In this moment before Election 2020 comes to a close, what have you learned in these past 4 years that you will take into the future? What kinds of actions will you continue to take?
Working to get more friends and family to the polls? Read this –> How To Convince People to Vote in 2020
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I started writing Postcards to Voters in March 2017 when it was founded and have written ever since. I will continue to do that. Plus this election I helped conduct postcard campaigns for our local state rep candidates, trying to unseat two non-representative Republicans. That grew out of being a member of Indivisible in my community where I have become acquainted with many like-minded people. All of this is joyful for me.
Thank you for sharing your story. I’m especially happy to hear that you’ve found joy in this work!
~ We must now start planning ahead to the local, state and federal races. We are
never done with Elections. ~ The “off-year” in 2021 a “mid-term” in
2022 and another “off-year” in 2023 and then a general or
“presidential” in 2024 ~ Vote in every one of them. ~
That’s right!!