Being a Democrat on a Republican campus is probably one of the top personal challenges I face on a daily basis. To hear others bash my beliefs 95% of the time, especially during and after an election as big as this one, can be pretty hard to deal with especially if you’re someone like me who feels strongly about a lot of things.

I’m not going to lie; I cried when Donald Trump won. I cried in fear, for America, and all the people who will get negative outcomes from a Trump presidency. But I think what made me cry the most was that I knew I had to leave the seclusion of my dorm room the next day and see everyone who voted for Trump celebrate their victory. To hear them say over and over, “We’ve won back America” or “Finally, this country can go back to the way it was.” And if that’s your beliefs on the matter, that’s okay, but for someone who thinks this is giant step backwards — that’s really, really scary for me.

I knew what I was getting into when I came to a Christian school, and I knew that most people would be strong Republicans here. But what I wasn’t expecting was for some people to let this election turn them into negative people, and I wasn’t expecting them to be snarky and disrespectful after the election to those of us who voted for Hillary.

But as a Democrat and someone who fully believes that love conquers over everything else — I won’t let those who believe I’m in the wrong, affect me. So here’s my advice to those at my school and others who are experiencing this pain and negativity everywhere else.

Let this be fuel, not poison.