November 3, 2026
Elections, uncertainty, and the steadying truth of impermanence
Today is Election Day. Whatever's on your ballot and whoever you're hoping for, there's a good chance your body has noticed before your mind has: a tighter chest, a phone that's hard to put down, a short fuse at dinner.
That makes sense. Not knowing how something important will turn out is one of the hardest things humans do.
So here's a reframe for the next 24 hours, and the weeks after. Underneath the yard signs and the arguments, most of us want remarkably similar things. We want to be safe, to be treated with dignity, to afford a good life, and to leave something better for the generations coming up behind us. We disagree, sometimes deeply, about how to get there. But the longing itself is shared.
Whatever happens tonight, it won't be the last chapter. Life moves in seasons.
“Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible.”
🧠 What the science shows
Uncertainty is its own kind of stress. Researchers describe fear of the unknown as one of the most basic fears humans have (Carleton, 2016). When we can't predict an outcome, the brain keeps scanning for threat. That's why waiting can feel worse than knowing.
This stress crosses party lines. In the American Psychological Association's most recent election-year survey, 77% of adults named the future of the nation as a significant source of stress. Republicans, Democrats, and independents reported it at similar rates (American Psychological Association, 2024). That same survey found most people also felt hopeful.
We misjudge each other. Americans consistently overestimate how extreme and hostile people on the "other side" are (Yudkin et al., 2019). Those exaggerated beliefs fuel more hostility than our actual differences do (Moore-Berg et al., 2020). The gap between us is often smaller than it feels.
Steadiness is a skill, not a personality. Acceptance-based approaches help people stay connected to what matters even when outcomes are out of their hands (Hayes et al., 2012).
🧭 The ACT lens
Nearly every wisdom tradition circles back to the same truth. The Buddhist teaching of impermanence says that everything arises, changes, and passes. Ecclesiastes says there is a season for everything. Farmers, grandparents, and anyone who has lived long enough to see a few decades turn over know it in their bones. Nothing stays exactly as it is, neither the hard times nor the good ones.
Impermanence can sound bleak, but it's actually what makes hope possible. Seasons that change can change again. The work we do in a hard season still matters, because it plants something.
ACT offers a useful image here: you are the sky, and the news is the weather. Storms roll through, sometimes violent ones. The sky holds them without becoming them. Tonight's results, and how you feel about them, are weather. Your values (how you treat your neighbors, what you teach your children, how you show up in your community) are closer to the sky. They're still there after the storm passes.
ACT also asks a clarifying question: What's in my control? The outcome of an election isn't. Your vote, your words, your attention, and your next kind act are.
🔧 Skills you can use today
Drop anchor when the wave hits. When you notice anxiety spiking, pause. Press your feet into the floor and name five things you can see. Then ask, "What matters right now, in this room?" It won't make the feeling disappear, but it puts you back in the driver's seat (Harris, 2019).
Set a news window. Choose one or two set times to check results instead of refreshing all night. The results won't arrive any faster, and your nervous system will thank you.
Make a "both ways" plan. Before results come in, decide what you'll do tomorrow whether you're relieved or heartbroken: one person to call, one walk to take, one thing to do for someone else.
Find the shared value. In your next conversation with someone who votes differently, try asking, "What are you hoping for, for your family?" Listen for the overlap before the disagreement.
Plant something local. Pick one small action in your own community this month, such as a school, a food pantry, or a neighbor. National seasons are long. Local ones are where most of life happens.
🧷 Untrendy but true
Elections end. Seasons turn. What you do for the people around you on an ordinary Wednesday has always been the long game.
Resources for the Curious
📚 Books
When Things Fall Apart, Pema Chödrön. A gentle, grounded classic on impermanence and staying open when the ground shifts.
I Never Thought of It That Way, Mónica Guzmán. Practical curiosity for talking with people who see the world differently.
The Happiness Trap (2nd ed.), Russ Harris. An accessible introduction to ACT, including dropping anchor and values-based living.
🎧 Podcasts
On Being with Krista Tippett: unhurried conversations about meaning, change, and what holds us together.
Braver Angels Podcast: conversations from an organization that brings people across the political divide into honest dialogue.
Ten Percent Happier: practical, skeptic-friendly tools for steadying an anxious mind.
References
American Psychological Association. (2024). Stress in America 2024: A nation in political turmoil. https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/stress-in-america/2024
Carleton, R. N. (2016). Fear of the unknown: One fear to rule them all? Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 41, 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.03.011
Harris, R. (2019). ACT made simple: An easy-to-read primer on acceptance and commitment therapy (2nd ed.). New Harbinger.
Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2012). Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process and practice of mindful change (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
Moore-Berg, S. L., Ankori-Karlinsky, L.-O., Hameiri, B., & Bruneau, E. (2020). Exaggerated meta-perceptions predict intergroup hostility between American political partisans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(26), 14864–14872. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2001263117
Yudkin, D., Hawkins, S., & Dixon, T. (2019). The perception gap: How false impressions are pulling Americans apart. More in Common. https://perceptiongap.us