Election Fatigue
David Freund, Chief Leadership Officer

As I speak with people during my coaching sessions and classes, I hear a common theme: election fatigue. People are fed up with all the negativity and divisive rhetoric surrounding our election. There is a lot of anxiety as the election draws near. According to author and speaker Jon Gordon, the root Greek word of “anxious” means to separate or divide. The problem we have is that our politicians, and their respective parties, are working to divide us rather than unite us, and the media outlets are more than happy to take their billions of dollars to spread the vitriol. As bad as this is, we do have an option.

In a recent post, Jon Gordon shared the following tips for surviving the next week.

1. Turn off the news and go for a gratitude walk. What a great idea! All the news sources have an off button. We need to take control of what we are watching and listening to, if we find ourselves anxious, turn it off. Cable news survives by feeding us one alert after another; just turn it off. Now that we have turned off the negativity, replace it with gratitude. I was recently teaching a class, and we spoke about the toxic election environment, and I made a comment that as bad as this is, it’s still the best system in the world. After class, a gentleman approached me to confirm how true my statement was. This young man has chosen to become an American, and he was so surprised and thrilled when he went into the polling place to cast his ballot that nobody was standing over him to make sure he chose the “correct” candidate.
2. Instead of looking down at your phone, look to heaven and say a prayer. As a person of faith, I believe God has a plan for everything, including who holds elected office in our country. Rather than stressing out, I need to look up and believe.
3. Focus more on inner peace instead of outside turmoil. Inner peace is much more than a feeling; it’s choosing to focus on things that have meaning and bring us true joy. John C. Maxwell reminds us to choose an abundance mindset that reminds us that things happen for us and not to us and life is filled with wonderful opportunities.
4. Take actions that make you feel empowered; go to your polling place and vote your conscience. The beauty of our country is that you can vote for whomever you choose. Make your choice, cast your vote and move on.

We have had almost sixty presidential elections, most have been filled with similar rhetoric, the only difference now is the saturation of real-time media. Hopefully, this will all be decided in a week, and we can move on.

I am looking forward to the messages at this Friday’s Live2Lead. John C. Maxwell and Jon Gordon will be joined by other speakers who will encourage us to lean in, choose a better mindset and grow.