Post Election Depression

I got up a few minutes after 5 this morning. It was not just adjusting to Daylight Savings Time, it is also the anticipation of VOTING DAY.

I seriously cannot believe that it is here.

For the last many weeks my life has been filled with pre-election and post-election plans. Everything that has come into my consciousness has been tempered with "that is after Election Day," or "before." Truly, it has been bizarre just how much energy has been invested in today. Extraordinary really.

What happens tomorrow? (Or, more likely, the day after tomorrow...because tomorrow I suspect that they will still be counting votes because there will be so many more votes than they have prepared for.) Back to the point, though, what will my life be like when there is no more election to obsess on?

I am not talking about a depression and anger that will occur if Obama does not win. I am not even going there. I am counting on him winning, and I refuse to go into the "what ifs" otherwise. What I am talking about is the natural letdown that always occurs when the end comes to a very large investment.

There is the after Christmas depression - which is always worse if I am the one who hosts the holiday because I have invested so much into it. There is the after a major test depression; remember finals, when there should have been relief, but instead there was an enormous feeling of "what now!?" There is the after the convention depression. Every time that I have ever attended a convention, for any purpose, there is always a depression - a let down - that occurs when it is over.

I think that this is natural human nature, that whenever we invest ourselves in something, when that event is over there is a chemical reaction to that excess energy. In other words, whenever we have amped up our energy level to deal with an event (even a good one) there is a reaction to that level of increased energy when it is no longer needed.

I think that this let down will be greater the more invested that people have been in this campaign. The more work involved, the greater the depression. I am assuming that there will be a tremendous amount of joy, excitement, relief (especially relief, that this one is not stolen too) but it will also be tempered with a funk. The degree of the funk proportional to the investment in the outcome.

So, please, friends, be gentle with each other. I know that certain people [me] are more sensitive to these kinds of adjustments than others. I suspect that I will be a little short with people, extra tired, perhaps on the couch for a while...trying to pull it together. I have been very ill lately but I have not allowed myself to really fall apart because I have an election to deal with. When this is over I am guessing that I might relax and actually experience the intensity of my sick.

Just a little warning of what might be going on with the people we love. Just a little warning of what might be going on with me. (Also, it is nice to write supposing the outcome that I am pulling for, even if the subject matter is a downer.) Be gentle, we are almost there.