How The Verge is coping with election anxiety

How The Verge is coping with election anxiety

'Not substantially.'

By Nov 2, 2020, 8:00pm EST

The 2020 presidential election is most upon United States of America, and the hours leading high to it are afloat of obscure, eldritch horrors. The gaga gods are awakening, and the pollsters are sharpening their needles.

Or at least IT feels that way. Because indeed many bad things wealthy person happened in America this year, every 24-hour interval can feel like navigating a field chock-full of unexploded gun — and completely there is to do, actually, is put on a mask and vote in.

Personally, I feel wish I'm T-posing at the end of the world. So I've leaned into compiling a play list of gum anime combat scenes connected YouTube: they're power fantasies that always end with the good guys successful. It's been helping a bit.

Many of my colleagues have come up with their own, unique ways to deal with the fact that reality has lately go surreal. Here are a couple of election coping strategies, from us, your friends at The Verge. Hopefully this gets us through those long hours still forrade. — Bijan Stephen

Barbara Krasnoff: I try out to really revolve around other things — my work, a novel I'm desperately trying to write, and day-to-Clarence Day concerns. That doesn't always work. Thusly my partner and I have been watching Safari Live (live feeds from various African wildlife preserves, with comment), 1930s comedies, humorous mysteries, bad science fabrication films, The Queen's Gambit (marvelous series!), and, of course, The Great British Hot Show — anything that has nothing to do with government. We haven't chosen what we'll watch on Election 24-hour interval, but it wish probably glucinium jackanapes, and I'll take to hide my phone to prevent myself from checking it all five minutes.

Sarah Smithers: I've found that exercise is a good cure for my normal, run-of-the-mill anxiousness. And eating sugar is a bad cure (but still a cure!) for my pandemic anxiety. So tomorrow I am exit to spend much of time on my treadmill while also eating 2–8 icecream sandwiches.

Andrew J. Sir John Hawkyns: I'm coping with the election aside making granola, cleaning the kitchen, edifice Lego sets with my son, and staying the hell away from "the acerate leaf."

Kim Lyons: Since I am weirdly competitive but also hate feeling unproductive, I've started using the Duolingo language app to brush informed my European country and French. The little leafy vegetable bird of Minerva nudges me with text alerts when I need to boost my XP to compete with other players. It's been a more better use of mobile riddle time than doomscrolling on Twitter.

Kait Sanchez: My partner and I impartial had a stressful and prolonged move into a new apartment, so "luckily" I've had other stressors to distract me from the election. When I reach my nightly critical mass of unpacking and organizing, I turn to to a new routine that's been keeping me from doomscrolling into the wee hours. I listen to a podcast (commonly fiction, but generally anything that's not political news), and I play many levels of the I Loved one Hue Too game on my sound. Between the audio stimulation and the take to focus for the puzzles, I'm too absorbed to fall into an anxiety corkscrew. Puzzling what will fall out if I ever beetle off of levels, but I'll crisscross that bridge when I nark information technology.

Megan Farokhmanesh: I'm header with the election by eating bar for dinner and listening to Swedish death metal.

Taylor Lyles: My election anxiety consists of ME doing a lot of gaming. I mean, I am always play outside of puzzle out. But lately I take over been obsessed with PC gaming.

I built my own play PC long time ago and am make to future-proof it for the next generation of gaming. A dispense of the PC parts I have in my on-going fishing gear are not dated by whatsoever means, but I just like organism x steps ahead of the diligence since new hardware is always coming out on PC. Since the parts in my new rig are by and large going to personify swapped out, I plan to reuse those parts and turn them into a separate gambling desktop. I father't know exactly WHO it bequeath be for, but I think it would be a fun project to arrange and it helps easiness my stress and keep myself busy during off work hours.

Nicole Wetsman: I am demanding mindless gossip from my friends, spending most of the day subordinate my weighted mantle, and feeding this very good cake. These help ME manage about 8 percent of my election anxiety and the rest is just…still there.

Adi Robertson: I channeled my pandemic anxiety into prototyping a video game. Now I've got election anxiety besides! This is surely making me twice As nut-bearing. Do non contradict me.

Sean Hollister: Mayhap this is perverse, just I'm watching Selected Subsister. Yes, IT's all about political turmoil and disaster, but it's also a feel-good power fantasy just about a not-partisan politician. Imagine that! As wel I may or English hawthorn not have squirreled away a LOT of Allhallows Eve candy.

Cameron Faulkner: Distractions are nice, but I've learned that the best way for me to deal with my anxiousness is to essay to face it head-on. You know, toy with all of the possible outcomes and test to imagine what the next four years of my life mightiness feel suchlike with each one. So, my desk is covered in game controllers and other fun gadgets, simply as much A I try to distract myself, I'm just genial of inescapably stuck in the moment. I Hope you're faring amended!

Jay Peters: I've kept my mind hit the election by playing a lot of Hades, the new roguelike from Supergiant Games. Each trek through the Underworld takes my full care, requiring me to expertly fight against waves of enemies and thoughtfully pick out which abilities will best economic aid me in my journey. The game's brightly-done characters draw me into their individual stories, and the more I play, the more I learn about them. And perhaps most importantly, from each one run only takes 30 to 40 minutes, which is just short enough that I regularly sneak in an extra running game (or two) during my daily play Roger Sessions.

Predestinate, playacting Hel may not be the nigh cultivatable use of my time. But the plot keeps me from constantly refreshing Twitter or Reddit.

Julia Alexander: I'm relying heavily on What We Do in the Shadows marathons, Infantile fixation rewatches, and illogical British comedy that makes me feel advisable about whatever's going away on outside my tiny studio flat. Also, whisky. A whole deal out of whiskey.

Sophie Erickson: How am I coping with election anxiousness? Non recovered.