ways to feel less terrible.

with reach beyond organizing my personal fabric stash.

My strategies for feeling less terrible over the past week have included eating an entire king-sized Snickers bar while hiding from my children, reorganizing my fabric stash, and devouring two vastly different books while buried under the covers. I’ve also snapped at my family, cried into my soup, and doomscrolled for a truly embarrassing length of time. Suffice to say, none of this has been terribly effective.

So, here are some other things I’m doing that *are* actually helping me feel less terrible. I hope you’ll join me:

Donating my last dollars! I don’t have a billion dollars to put behind a candidate and I wouldn’t if I did, but I could give another $20, so I did. We’re just $349.49 away from meeting our $10,000 goal for North Carolina! (Here’s a reminder on why that’s so important! Hint: To stop anti-abortion, anti-voter, anti-gun safety legislation!)
Join me here!

Picking up the phone! There are so many great organizations doing the real and vulnerable work of calling fellow voters and encouraging them to get to the polls. Environmental Voters is just one of those orgs and they have a different phone banking campaign happening every night until the election. The first time I ever phone banked was when I lived in North Carolina in 2008. It was a little intimidating but it felt so good to have done something with all my nervous energy. Get to it! (Lots of other ways to get involved via Mobilize!)

Making a lil voting plan! It feels stressful to be unprepared at the polls, but you don’t need to be! Look up your polling place and check out a sample ballot online. Scribble your plan on the back of a napkin, type it up in your Notes app, write it on the back of your hand, whatever you do, just go to the polls with a plan and help the people you love to do that, too. Enter your address at Vote 411 to find sample ballots for wherever you live.

In New York City, I like to use vote.nyc to check my registration and sample ballot. I also always check in with what the folks at Soft Power are encouraging. Whenever it’s possible, I vote for Democratic candidates on the Working Families Party line. I want more than a two-party system and this feels like the most effective way of supporting that future. In New York City, we have six propositions on this ballot this election. As I’ve said before: I’m voting YES on #1 and NO on #2-6. (Remember that you do NOT need to vote for every single candidate on the ballot in order for your ballot to be counted.)

Talking to my friends! It sounds silly! Maybe it feels like everyone you know already knows all of the same things you do! That is not actually the case! For down-ballot races in particular, folks are usually woefully unprepared. This election is about so much more than the president. We need elected offices filled with folks making good choices! Share your voting plan with local friends who might not have time to do their research! Pick up the phone and call your mom! Tell your elderly neighbor in Brooklyn that you’re voting Yes on Prop 1. (Their response might break your heart, but do it anyway!)

Pledging my support! I shared back in August that I would be voting for the Kamala/Walz ticket. That’s still my plan. I don’t see this vote as a reward or an endorsement of the Democratic establishment, but I do see it as a way to get closer to the world I most want to live in. When I talk about pledging my support this week, though, it’s not for a candidate. Not everyone who I love or organize with agrees with my strategy for the presidential race, but we also know that working toward a more just, more free world doesn’t begin or end with an election. No matter what happens at the polls next week, we will have work to do, together, and I’m pledging to do that.

Now, your turn: Is there anything helping you feel less terrible? Are you knocking on doors? Sending postcards? Making calls? I’d love to know!