Trump’s inauguration felt a lot like watching the Statue of Liberty slash your tires and then draw a wang in the dust on your rear windshield. For those of us who had been desperately trying to suppress the memory of his election night, there is an obvious sense of fear when thinking about the four years that lie ahead. Here a few tips to help the 45th presidency ooze by:
Subscribe to a health/exercise regime
Find time in your schedule to prepare healthy meals and do cardio to deter future injury or illness, because you probably won’t have health insurance much longer. Within hours of being inaugurated, Trump signed an executive order aimed at slashing the Affordable Care Act. This order allows the Health and Human Services Department to prevent the implementation of any part of the law that could impose a “fiscal burden” on states, health care providers, families, or individuals. I know that a healthy lifestyle doesn’t protect you from pre-existing conditions or the randomness of life, but at the very least it’ll prepare you to join the anarcho-political revolution in breaking the shackles of democracy that brought us here.
Make progress within your own life
Choose an area of your life you want to improve in, and make efforts to improve in it. For example, if you want to devote more time to gardening, making art, or reading for pleasure then really push to make that time. Being able to see measured progress in your own personal life might distract you from the fact that our country is about to lurch back into 1950 when casual racism was as American as apple pie.
Take a step back
Like many other Americans, I have been feeling emotionally overwhelmed whenever our Cheeto in Chief pops on a screen. At first, I couldn’t stop ranting about Trump’s latest offense or his next totally backwards cabinet appointment. After a while it got exhausting, I felt resigned. I stopped engaging in political conversations just to give myself a reprieve from the emotional drain. I felt like I was giving up, letting Trump “become normal.” I had to tell myself that it’s okay to take a step away from a toxic situation and Trump is arsenic. Life is already stressful enough with a big, orange, anvil dangling over the nation.
Volunteer
Contribute to organizations that now stand to suffer through a Trump presidency. Volunteer your time to immigrant advocacy centers, anti-defamation leagues, and mosques. Show solidarity with them against the inevitable rise in violence that comes with a newly emboldened white supremacist (oh excUUUSE ME “Alt-right”) movement. Take the well-being of our planet in your own hands and out of his tiny, orange, climate-change-denying ones by practicing eco-friendly habits like recycling and reducing waste.
Seek out humor
It is a scientifically proven, unarguable fact that punk music and comedy improve during a Republican presidency. There’s just more material, and Trump had already proven that before he was even elected. In fact, at many points during his candidacy I was almost convinced that his entire run was an act, he’s such a caricature of himself. The next four years will be a rich time for comedy, and we can turn to comedians to help us escape the crushing embarrassment at being the first country with a reality TV president. It’s a thin silver lining, but a silver one at least.
If you’re anything like me then I know that even if you follow all these tips you’ll still be left feeling empty and hollow in that place where you used to put your patriotism, but at least now you’re doing more reading for pleasure.
