Many People Feeling Stressed After Election Day, Looking For Ways To Cope

SANDY, Utah – As Americans anxiously wait for election results to come in, one local therapist said he’s hearing from patients about the stress they’re feeling because of it.

KSL’s Alex Cabrero spoke with some Utahns who decided to be at peace with whatever is decided.

No matter what happens next, daily life continues.

The yard work, taking care of the kids, taking the dog for a walk. If you look outside, things are still as they always were.

It was important for Sarah Carpenter to see that because as she looked around her Sandy neighborhood just before Election Day, she found herself getting upset.

“I noticed I was making the assumption that when I see a Trump sign, that I’m a little bit triggered, and I think they don’t like me, and that isn’t true,” said Carpenter.

So, being a life coach, she took a step back and decided to write a message to her neighbors on social media.

Using her NextDoor app, she wrote, in part, “Dear folks who voted differently than I did, I see you. I love you.”

So far, the comments have been overwhelmingly positive.

“I just wanted my neighborhood to know that we might not agree, but I am for you,” she said. “I am for your humanity.”

It brought her the kind of peace licensed clinical therapist Marc Potter said is so important right now.

“I hear a lot of fear. I hear a lot of apprehension about what could happen,” said Potter. “You even hear the words ‘civil war’, which is terrifying to people.”

That’s why Potter made a meditation video specifically for those who have election stress and political disagreements with those close to you.

“That you both equally share the basic yearning to be happy and to be free from suffering,” said Potter in the video.

He’s heard from many of his patients who say they are feeling that stress.

However, even after the election, Potter said it’s never too late to find that peace.

“If you’ve got a pulse, there’s hope,” he said.

That’s what Carpenter learned.

She looked around her neighborhood at those who voted differently than she did, and wrote in her post, “We are better together.”

Carpenter said writing that message to her neighbors has helped her tremendously.

“Because it’s not going to be all one side or all the other side,” she said. “That just isn’t what reality is.”