So, it is the day after Election Day…

If Vice President Harris had won, my day would look like …

1. Wake up;
2. Go into the next room and get met by a 10 month old Vizsla acting like he had not seen me in 5 years;
3. Drink coffee and a banana;
4. Take that supercharged energy dog to the dog park;
5. Talk to some kind human souls at the dog park and revel in watching Beauregard as he experiences the simple joy of running and love of life shown as he runs as fast as he can … without a care in the world;
6. Smile when I think of a grandson being born in April;
7. Come home and then off to the grocery store;
8. Come home again and start to fix some turkey soup using turkey bones and meat left over from a Christmas in July party;
9. Catch Beauregarde sneaking into the kitchen as the smell of turkey starts to permeate the air and relegate him to being outside;
10. Think of the few people I have helped in the eating disorder community … which makes me smile … and yet at times, puts a tear down my face;
11. See what life will serve up next.

If Former President and now President-Elect Trump won, my day would look like …

1. Wake up;
2. Go into the next room and get met by a 10 month old Vizsla acting like he had not seen me in 5 years;
3. Drink coffee and a banana;
4. Take that supercharged energy dog to the dog park;
5. Talk to some kind human souls at the dog park and revel in watching Beauregard as he experiences the simple joy of running and love of life shown as he runs as fast as he can … without a care in the world;
6. Smile when I think of a grandson being born in April;
7. Come home and then off to the grocery store;
8. Come home again and start to fix some turkey soup using turkey bones and meat left over from a Christmas in July party;
9. Catch Beauregarde sneaking into the kitchen as the smell of turkey starts to permeate the air and relegate him to being outside;
10. Think of the few people I have helped in the eating disorder community … which makes me smile … and yet at times, puts a tear down my face;
11. See what life will serve up next.

Naturally, social media today is filled with people bemoaning last night as they fearfully look toward the future.

Fear.  There is that word “fear.”

In the horrible 2013 movie, After Earth, the character played by Will Smith (pre-slap Chris Rock) said this about fear:

“Fear is not real. It is a product of our imaginations. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts about the future”. He continues, “That is near insanity! Now do not get me wrong, Danger is very real. But fear is a choice”

Truer words were never spoken.

I am not a political animal nor do I define myself by which party I voted for. Nor do I judge someone by whom they voted for in the last election.

The herd mentality can be so harmful … and so deceiving. The legacy media has stoked this mentality through its own agenda. We are sorted into our respective tribes much like the sorting hat in the Harry Potter movies. That reality then turns into an echo chamber where we are surrounded by only those voices which are the same as our own. We stop critical thinking because we do not listen to, nor respect, intelligent opinions which differ from ours. And in doing so, in embracing that tribal mentality, we diminish ourselves.

We start to identify ourselves only by the requirements and demands of our tribe. And woe be unto those who express their uniqueness, their special individuality and who refuse to be placed into a box dictated by the demands of a tribe.

Whether your candidate won or lost, you as a person, as a soul, are so much more than that politician or the demands and policies of a political party. Do not let a political party dictate your identity. You are so much greater than that.

Regardless of who won or lost, the sun will rise again tomorrow. I will take that Wood-Headed rascally dog out to the dog park. I will feel such joy watching him run, watching him do what he was meant to do during his far too brief existence on this rock.

I will revel in the anticipation of a new grandbaby.

I will love.

I will laugh.

I will experience joy.

I will bask in the sun.

I will live.

I hope you join me on that journey.