The following is a day-after reaction to last's week's election results.

Today I woke up in what felt like a nightmare.

See, I was one of the people who stayed positive longer than most. I said, this country can never elect a man who has ostracized so many groups. I said, we will never put someone like that in the white house. I was confident. I told people, "Don't worry." On the morning of election day I tweeted: "Today we watch history become her story."

I had rehearsal that night, but I was live streaming CNN on my laptop in the green room. As I was doing so I imagined what it would feel like to pull my child onto my knee some day and tell her that in the first election in which I was eligible to vote, I got to vote for the first female president of the United States. I pictured her perhaps laughing about me watching it on a laptop because laptops will likely be to her what a record player is to me. I imagined her reading about a time when our country had never had a female leader in a textbook as if it were ancient history. Best of all, I imagined telling her she could do anything or be anyone and actually feeling like I was telling the truth.

This result is not what I imagined.

I have found myself at a loss for words in the past 24 hours.

I don't know the right thing to say to the sexual assault survivors I've held weeping in my arms who have been told by the results of this election that their experiences don't matter. I struggle to respond when the very rape culture we've spent so much of our time and energy working to eradicate has been encouraged by the man who will soon be this country's leader.

I don't know how to encourage my friends who identify as LGBT+ when the future vice president's campaign has supported conversion therapy, which is directly related to anxiety, depression, and suicide. The leadership of the country tells them that who they are is a problem which can be fixed. I wish I could offer them comfort for their fears that their rights, some of which they have so recently gained, could be taken away.

I don't know what to say to my friends with disabilities when the soon to be leader of the country has openly mocked them. This is a pain I cannot imagine.

I don't know what to say to my friends who are of minority races who will be further marginalized and hurt by the results of this election. I was unfortunately not surprised to receive an e-mail from the president of our college saying that several students who belong to minority groups have received threats from other students. I know of others who have been called hateful racial slurs on campus today. For the first time in my college career, I do not feel like a "people of Hope."

Most of all, I do not know what I will say to my future child about this election anymore. I want her to grow up believing that people are mostly loving and accepting, and that just doesn't feel true to me at this time. I don't know. Part of me feels like, because I've been optimistic for so long, I get to be distraught about this a little longer.

Don't get me wrong, I know all is not lost. God is still on the throne, and I still know plenty of people who will continue to fight for equality and love. I don't know what to say to those who are hurting, but I will start with love. Still, if you're waiting for more of a silver lining from me, you're going to keep waiting. Please keep praying, and I will keep praying.

Maybe next week I'll have something uplifting to say.