“A win is a win. That's a major win. And in the family group chat, I saw that you sent a picture of him, which was so cute. He did. He took a selfie. Yeah, because last time we were talking about how your dad is afraid to vote or he was really uncomfortable at the polls.”
“Yeah. He feels like he doesn't know enough and he would always say his vote never made a difference. So he told my older sister, even if it doesn't make a difference, I have to try. And we all just crying. Oh yeah, it was a big day for the family and I mean, yeah, he did it. So out of everything we got something”.

In the past several weeks since the 2024 presidential election, I’ve felt myself as well as held space for feelings of frustration, division, anger, and worries about safety, rights, and personal freedoms. These issues can create a perfect storm of anxiety, grief, and fear. I’ve noticed myself moving from hopeful, to numb, to powerless especially when it seems like the problems are so big and out of our control. And then there’s confidence in our ability to make a better future peeking through as I engage with my community. It’s an interesting time to be a therapist.

I’ve been reflecting a lot on the 2016 election. I remember the night that he won, crying to my boyfriend of 7 months, saying, “We can’t have a baby while he’s in office.” He agreed, even though it felt somewhat dramatic to say since we weren’t necessarily moving towards those steps soon, but for me, it felt important.

And now? Me and my then-boyfriend have been married for 7 years (as of this week), and I’m 8 months pregnant. Fuck. It didn’t start sinking in until this summer that I may be going against what I had promised myself 8 years ago– promising that I couldn’t bring a kid into this world while someone like T*ump is in the office. It felt amoral and it felt selfish.