Post-Election Coaching
For when you’re ready to use your power…
if you are still lost, reeling, or hopeless after the election, & left wondering,
“What do we do now?”
This coaching is for you.
Often, coaching is asking you–the client–questions so that you can find the answer within yourself.
This is not that.
If you don’t know what to do about moving forward after the (repeat of 2016) election, powerful questions and deep diving into your truth will NOT unearth hidden knowledge & skills.
Sometimes, coaching is teaching you about a new thing you didn’t know before.
This is that.
But as always, I–the coach–do NOT have the answers.
What I do have is the rolodex of collected knowledge & expert frameworks to point you toward & help you navigate through the practice of embodying.
Because simply consuming theory & hoarding knowledge doesn’t change anything: be it your life or the world./se
This election.
It’s easy to get caught up in the minutia of this particular election:
If only those voters in swing states didn’t vote 3rd party…
If only Kamala ran a better campaign…
If only more voters would have turned out…
If only, if only, if only…
That’s all true. Those specifics affected the outcome of this election. And because of that, we lost Tuesday’s game.
But, do you remember how on January 6, 2021, Tr*mp orchestrated a violent coup?
That didn’t seem legal, right?
Yet he was still able to run for President again… Weird, no?
We definitely lost the game that day.
Or do you remember how Mitch McConnell blocked then-President Obama from appointing any Supreme Court justices for all of 2016?
That shouldn’t have been allowed, right?
Like, that was totally not fair… And yet, it happened.
Another game we lost.
Or how about the fact that winning the popular vote is NOT how the president is elected?
All because of slave-owning states’ rights bullshit from 200 years ago?
We’re all just still going along with that, even though it’s totally cheating?
That’s a game we’re always losing.
…
…
…
It’s almost like this game is just not fair at all.
In fact, when you stop getting mired down in the minutia of individual elections, and you zoom out to see the patterns, you start to see that maybe the entire game is rigged against you, and it has been all along.
Actually, not only is the game rigged against you, but they also keep changing the rules to make sure they can never be held accountable. Hey, there’s nothing to be held accountable for if the new rules say it’s allowed!
It’s not just one to two games here & there that are rigged; it’s the entire system.
Once you realize that, how much longer do you keep playing along?
Do you keep playing a game that’s rigged against you, where you can absolutely never win?
Do you keep playing when they tell you that you lost because of your own faults & shortcomings?
Do you believe them that you didn’t try hard enough & you’re to blame?
The US election system.
The beauty standard.
Toxic fitness culture.
Healthism.
Just lose weight.
Just have a big butt and a small waist.
Just be strong, but not muscular.
Just keep voting.
The systems are rigged.
You will never win.
How long will you keep playing by their rules, only to lose, over & over again? And then blame yourself?
Now, how do you change things?
The system &/or your part in it?
The Framework for a Liberatory Consciousness, by Dr. Barbara J. Love.
“The development of a liberatory consciousness is meant to serve as reminders in our daily living that the development and practice of a liberatory consciousness is neither mysterious nor difficult, static nor fixed, or something that some people have and others do not… These labels remind us that every human can acquire the skill to become a liberation worker.”
—Elements of a Liberatory Consciousness, by Dr. Barbara J. Love
Step 1: Awareness- Developing the capacity to notice the dis-equal systems in place around us.
Step 2: Analysis- To think & theorize about what is happening, why it is happening, & what needs to be done about it.
Step 3: Action- Deciding what needs to be done and seeing to it that action is taken; there can be no division between those who think and those who put thinking into action.
Step 4: Accountable/Allyship- How we understand & manage the opportunity & possibility for perspective sharing; we WILL make mistakes, and rather than self-condemnation or blame, it will be important to have the openness to hear from others & support each other to learn more.
Where are you in these steps?
Which ones do you still need to work through?
Which ones do you like to stay in, hiding out?
Which ones are you avoiding?
None of them are skippable.
I believe in you.
Love and kisses.
“What do we do now?”
The answer is right there.
“We.”
YOU might be lost.
Not everyone is.
In fact, many people have been teaching, leading, & inviting us to be co-conspirators in this fight the whole time–especially since 2016.
If that is you, I highly suggest learning from the people who study it, live it, and act on it. Specifically, people who have a history of being marginalized & oppressed by the government.
I promise, what is new & shocking to you is NOT new & shocking to them.
Those folks? They DO know what to do.
Learn from them. Become a student of history. It repeats itself. Including now.
At the end of this essay, I have a list of resources that I have learned from & can be your jumping off point.
But let me give you a spoiler about one thing that every single one of these resources suggests/recommends/says is an absolute requirement:
You MUST get in community.
Make a conscious, uncomfortable effort to join them.
We have all been taught that individualism is THE WAY.
This runs so deep in the core of the US, the Western world, Whiteness, and the Patriarchy, that you can barely fathom what a stronghold this belief has on your entire worldview.
Capitalism LOVES individualism. It’s very profitable.
Alone, we cannot meet all of our needs.
Alone, companies can sell us band-aid “solutions” for our unmet needs they cause & perpetuate.
Social media is the perfect tool of capitalism to fill the need for connection, but while keeping people isolated. We live in unwalkable cities with no 3rd spaces, and all of our time, energy, & money is spent on trying to survive by doing everything on our own, when we’re supposed to be doing it together. Keeping us spending, trying to meet our needs, but never actually fulfilling any.
Does social media have its benefits?
Of course.
Is it community?
It is not.
Can you meet people on social media, & then make a community (even online) out of it?
Yes!
Are likes & views community?
No!
Why must you get in community?
Because it is the answer.
o burnout. To disconnection. To loneliness. To despair. To hopelessness. To survival.
To care. To share. To help. To heal. To life. To peace. To love.
It is the answer to what to do next.
Resources to Learn from Folks Who Might Already Know What To Do & Want to Teach Us:
TTYL,
Deanna
