7 Days of Grieving - 3

November 8, Friday

Today I finally woke up at 6 am, without waking up every hour during the night. The realization of the election loss is still jolting and sobering. But I'm trying to tell myself that the inauguration is still two months away and perhaps there's time to prepare myself for the inevitable bad governance.

I had all my four classes, noted that my voice started to feel the strain (usually happens toward the end of the semester), so I'm looking forward to the weekend and consuming a lot of warm tea with soothing honey.

There's less drama today: fewer people calling, texting and reaching out, and even fewer stopping by. Perhaps humans are so resilient it literally takes only a couple of days for the bad news to settle in.

In the afternoon, I finally ate for the first time at 1 pm. I started skipping breakfast about two years ago so my body does not even expect it now. But around 11-12, my stomach usually starts growling so I eat a cereal bar or a piece of fruit. After lunch, I take a long walk while talking to a friend and come back to the office.

I do some research for my current academic project and set up assignments for my students for next week. I also wrote this drabble:

Sorry for the macabre in that drabble. I guess it's my doom-and-gloom Russian side manifesting itself.

I'm still behind on grading but I'm not going to do it today. Too tired after all my classes. Instead, I do the emails, my advisory duties, and put my thoughts in order. I also went to the post office and mailed a package to a friend in Washington state. I hope it brings her joy.

I have not watched the news since the day of the election so it is time to decide how to approach it. It's important for me as a communicator to develop my own media use strategy.

From now on, I will not pay attention to any pundits. Not on CNN, or MSNBC, or anywhere else. All their opinionated experts clearly have no idea of what is going on in the modern society. I will also not consume news from corporate media. They all failed us spectacularly and miserably and they are not going to get my attention and subscription money anymore. You cannot even imagine how much this restraint means, coming from a political news junkie.

Instead, I'm going to listen to NPR, watch PBS News Hour, and read AP/Reuters news sites for hard news only. I will continue listening to Pod Save America for analysis and strategy, listen to HCR's "Letters from an American" for a historical perspective, and follow Amy Siskind for her documentation of Trump's authoritarianism. Everything else in terms of media consumption will be for entertainment and escapism, and there are lots of options there.

I will also try to keep my "restless hands" busy. Right now, after I'm done with this story and go home, I will start a new knitting project. I also have a couple of new ideas for new paintings.

This weekend, I'll start de-cluttering my spaces both at home and work (I don't have that much clutter, but once in a while I need to discard, dispose of, and give away stuff so that my spaces are better and healthier).

I will try to be more disciplined about my writing as well and see how I can improve my Vocal presence and support for other writers. It's going to be hard with all my work responsibilities but I will give it my best.

We'll get through this, somehow.

Previous diary entries are here: