To find out more about what it’s like for Americans to wait on the election results, Bored Panda reached out to Twitter user @strawbearysal, who tweeted one of the funny election reactions with the caption “This is everyone checking the map every 5 minutes to see if the votes in Nevada changed.”
@strawbearysal told us that waiting was absolutely nerve-wracking. “I’m a college student and I found myself not being able to focus on schoolwork because of how anxious I was waiting for the results.”
The Twitter user also told us that there have been 100 emotions that they've gone through during this time. In fact, @strawbearysal has been on the edge of their seat since November because “Anything could happen during the vote-counting period.”
Luckily, “The memes help a lot in keeping calm.”
On the other hand, @strawbearysal believes that this is going to be a historic election. “The voter turnout and states that are usually red turning out to be blue this year. People are ready for a change.”
At this boiling point of the vote counting, @strawbearysal suggests staying positive. “It doesn’t matter what’s happening right now—all votes will be counted and we will receive fair election results soon,” the Twitter user concluded and we can’t agree more!
When it seems like there weren’t enough things to worry about these days, the US presidential election has surely added fuel to the fire. A recent survey conducted by the American Psychological Association and Harris Poll found that 68% of American adults say that the current election has caused significant stress in their lives. In comparison, ahead of the 2016 election, only 52% of Americans said the same thing.
Interestingly, the findings also indicated that the increased stress levels were present and consistent across the political parties: 76% of Democrats, 67% of Republicans, and 64% of Independents reported election-related stress.
The American Psychological Association suggests a couple of tactics for easing that tremendous sense of election anxiety. Avoid dwelling on worst-case scenarios, because fear breeds negative emotions. Make sure you have a voting plan and an election day plan ready, so that you have some emotional support from friends and family to help you through the nerve-wracking wait.
And lastly, try to control your use of social media, because focusing on things that you can control may be soul-soothing. “If following the news, watching the debates, or scrolling through social media is causing you stress, limit your media consumption,” writes APA.
In the end, try staying active because “Moving helps us release the energy we experience when we feel stressed.” So at this point, there’s no better thing to do than taking your corgi out for a walk. I mean, when was the last time you turned your head to see the sky?
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