So let’s just say that there’s been a large scale national vote of some kind, and the result is not what you expected or wanted. And you’re feeling sad and angry and terrified.
Here’s a really bad thing to do: go onto social media and, say, blame Queensland. Or old people. Or the less educated. Or respond to people smugly telling you that it’s your fault for living in a lefty bubble and that if you don’t like it you should move to New Zealand.
But what do you do instead? Glad you asked! Here’s some tips:
1. Do not go on Twitter.
2. Feel your feelings. Just feel the hell out of them. Look, they’re going to demand to be felt anyway so you may as well stop trying to outrun them.
3. Go for a walk. Somewhere nice in nature. Breathe in and get some of that ozone in your lungs. Maybe this time be a little mindful of avoiding walks near enticing cliffs and deep-water pools. Somewhere flat and landlocked, ideally.
4. Do not go on Twitter.
5. Friends are good. Express your feels to your similarly suffering buds. Then once those feels are expressed, be a bit quiet about them because your friends are not your mum and don’t have to put up with your complaints beyond a certain threshold. Speaking of which, Mum doesn’t want to hear you sob about how the terrible the future looks for the ABC either.
And speaking of friends…
6. Change your default privacy setting on Facebook to Friends Only. And also log out of there. There is nothing that will make you feel better. Honest to god, there is nothing there. NOTHING.
7. Also, do not go on Twitter.
8. Do not post on Instagram, and if you do have to spend time there do not look at anything that isn’t a picture of a cat. If that cat looks even slightly political, log out.
9. What do you have more of, time or money? Put some of it to something that will make a difference in whatever small way – donate to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre or join a political party or sign onto volunteering with the Climate Council or something similar. The macro stuff is out of your hands for the time being, so focus down on the achievable.
10. Oh hell, seriously, do NOT go on Twitter.
11. Be patient. In a few weeks time clear eyes and cool heads will look at what happened and have some answers which are not going to appear now, when everyone is either devastated and lashing out or provocatively smug and lashing out. You can make plans and action then.
12. Focus on something else for a bit. Say, that Game of Thrones show sounds popular, maybe you should watch tha… oh, really? What happened? Ah. OK, bad example.
13. Be nice to yourself. You’ve taken a beating. You’re going to need to heal for a bit. Or hell, take the rest of the week!
