I woke up excited, knowing that today was the day I would finally get to exercise my civil duty and vote in a presidential election for the first time. I had been waiting months to cast my vote for Hillary and play my part in making history -- electing the first female president. From Obama to Hillary, the liberal Washington I've grown up with would continue to make positive change in my early 20's.

While getting ready for the day, I got hit with a strange feeling; for the first time all election season, I stopped and considered the possibility that Trump might actually take the title. I sat with this reality for a moment, then tried to get it out of my mind before I could fully consider all of the negative implications this would have on our country (and on my sanity). I continued my day of classes, club meetings, voting with a friend near our dorm, and anticipating the watch party later that night at a friend's apartment.

By the time I had finished my homework and some other errands I needed to get done that night, there were only a few states that had been declared red or blue. I made my way to where my friends were sitting around the TV, chatting and snacking and joking and waiting.

Then it began. The gradual lean towards red: one state after another. We stared at the TV, looked around at each other, and began wondering what exactly what was happening. We'd all experienced the dreadful election season, and though we'd been horrified by Trump and his blatant racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia, we knew America would come together in the end and elect the only plausible choice. We hadn't prepared ourselves for the possibility that after all this, Trump's sick version of a social experiment would prevail.

When it was clear that there was no turning back, some of us headed to our campus' Main Quad for a "primal scream", as the viral Facebook event was named. We yelled -- out of anger, out of fear, out of sadness, out of horror.

Many voices lost and tears shed later, Hillary's team announced that she'd be giving a concession speech the following morning. The night drew to a sad, painful close.

I awoke the next morning, and for a few seconds everything was ok. The sun was out, I had class in an hour, and there would be pancakes at breakfast. Pancakes! I love pancakes. But before I could throw the covers off of me to get out of bed, the previous night (and all its dread) rushed back. Could it really be?

I sat in lecture for over an hour that morning and read many friends' posts on social media and articles published by various news sources. And I cried. I cried for the people of color, for the women, for the members of the LGBTQ+ community, for the endless groups of people who would be marginalized by this new reality.

The best way I can describe the way I felt is this: I was watching a movie, or reading a book, in which the plot had reached its climax: how would it resolve itself? Would it take Path A or Path B? It was as though I was within the unraveling of Path B, the path that no one really expected. But then we'd realize we were simply getting a peek into what life would be like under those circumstances, and continue life down Path A, where things were okay. The hard part to accept is that we're really just stuck in Path B, and Path A is another reality that we could've experienced, but won't.

I can't help but think how different these next 4 years will be. Rather than continuing to experience the liberal agenda that has been around for the majority of my formative years, my early 20's will be filled with measures taken to reverse the progress we've made with respect to recognizing the fundamental human rights everyone is entitled to. We've elected a man who does not believe in climate change, a man who has been accused of sexual assault and tax fraud many times, a man who has been endorsed by the KKK and whose running mate is just as terrifying as he is (if not more so).

Perhaps the worst part of this election, however, is that the America we are now living in is the same one we've been living in all these years. Trump supporters? They've been around. Trump has simply given them a voice and a sense of entitlement to terrorize those who look and act differently than them. The number of hate crimes that have taken place in the first 48 hours since the election has increased. But protests have sprung up all around the country simultaneously -- millennials and many others from adjacent generations have joined to have their voices heard: Trump is not our President.

We will get out of this one way or another, but it's on us to try and be strong through it all. We must unite and protect one another. We must vote in midterm elections to restore a party balance in the branches of government. We must make our voices heard. We must support one another. We must remember that love trumps hate.