I’m sad. I’m in shock. I’m disappointed. I’m fearful. I’ve set aside a long blog post that spilled much of what I’m feeling today because:

So, I’ve been reflecting on gaman, the Japanese philosophy of endurance. How am I going to “survive” the next four years? (Sorry for the drama, but I’m going to let that slip past my internal editor.)

Here’s how:

No More News!

The first thing I’m going to do is break my news habit. I’ve said it before — I’m a news junkie. I love to watch the news. I’ll admit that much of my reason for watching, listening to, or reading is to get my “hit” — the adrenaline surge I get from news that is more and more obviously written to satisfy people like me who are looking for those “hits.”

It won’t be easy. I listen to news or podcasts when I drive, when I get dressed in the morning, when I cook–whatever I’m doing that doesn’t require too much concentration.

But so far today, I have managed to leave it off and I know I feel a lot better without it. I don’t want to listen to all the prognosticating about how this happened, who’s to blame, what to fear.

I DON’T NEED OR WANT THAT STRESS IN MY LIFE.

Limit or Cut-Out Social Media

I’ve already been off of Twitter (Sorry, Elon, it will always be Twitter to me) for around 9 months and surprisingly, I haven’t missed it. I don’t look at Instagram, Tik Tok and whatever else is out there.

I’m seriously considering taking another break from Facebook, but I’ve enjoyed being back on it recently. So far, most of the posts have been positive — people talking about how they’re coping with the results. There has been some bloviating by the side whose guy won, but not as bad as I expected it to be, and to be honest, if Kamala had won, I probably wouldn’t have been able to contain my joy either. So, though I don’t like seeing it, they’re entitled to their respectful joy.

But, Facebook is on my probation list. If it gets too political after things die down in a few days, I’ll be getting off of it again. Besides, it sucks a lot of time, which I don’t like.

Writing

Cutting out news and social media will not only give me extra time, it will clear my brain. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve seen a local resurgence of interest in The Red Kimono. It has been thrilling for me to hear readers’ thoughts on my book, and to have people pass it along to friends and book clubs. Talking about the story with readers has reminded me of its relevance, perhaps, especially today.

As a result, I’m going to set aside my memoir and plan to return to work on the sequel to The Red Kimono. It has been stashed away for years, but this rebirth of interest and encouragement from friends and book clubs to “hurry up and get the sequel published” has motivated me to haul it out again.

I saw this meme on Facebook today:

Writing is my soul’s medicine. It has been since I was a young girl. If I’m lucky enough to help my readers feel the story through the characters’ eyes, then perhaps it will be their soul’s medicine, too.

So much of what happens is out of my control, but the things I’ve listed here ARE in my control. Letting go of what I can’t control and focusing on what I can control — THAT’S how I will endure the next four years.