Today I feel like I have been punched in the gut by a bully. There is a pain in my belly that is diverting my attention from everything else I planned to do today. I am asking myself,
"What happened?"
I was doing my best to fight back, but now it feels like I am surrounded by people who are just watching the bully beat me up. My question now is, "What next?"
My first effort to get over this is to review the 5 stages of grief and loss:
1. Denial & Isolation -- We cannot deny the reality of Donald Trump as President. We will get over it. Let's not crawl into a hole to escape this reality.
2. Anger -- The pain of this loss will return again and again. We must try to avoid allowing this pain to be expressed as anger. We must channel that energy to constructive outcomes.
3. Bargaining -- This usually is expressed in repeatedly asking what we could have done differently. It is over. We cannot repeat yesterday. We must determine how to move on.
4. Depression -- We will feel bad for a while. Our productivity, and some of our relationships will suffer. Some of this we must get over alone. In other cases, we must find common cause with others to make tomorrow better.
5. Acceptance -- Finally, we must accept this outcome and resume speed, proceed with our new normal. We must be ready when the sun comes up tomorrow.
Several things may come from this. Our actions will determine how we emerge from this gut punch. I need to get busy working to make this pain go away.
The lesson we must learn from all of this is to do everything possible to take ownership of decisions that affect our future. If we do, I won't feel like I got sucker-punched by a bully after the next election.
Roger Madison, CEO
iZania, LLC