What's Next?

The things we have control over.

The West Wing has been my political comfort food for decades.

Whenever I get sad or afraid, there are several episodes that I'll go back to. Which ones are not important. What is important is the thing that makes The West Wing special. (Wholly aside from the politics, which I still weep for.)

Although Martin Sheen ended up with a much larger role, the show was never intended to be about the President.

It was meant to be about everyone else in The West Wing. About the people who do the work, day in, day out. The people who move the ball forward just a little bit.

So much of the work that will need to be done over the next four years is about sustaining movement.

There's no bypassing what any of us are feeling right now. But the change comes through sustained, meaningful activity. So, take a day, take a couple days if you have to, allow yourself to feel your feelings, and then ask…what's next?

It's really important that you embrace the work that has the most meaning for you, because the fight is long. The work that we shall have to do over the next four years is incredible when you look at it as a whole.

Sometimes, when we do that, we get stuck in the existential dread. (If you didn’t read that one, find it here.)

But stuck is literally the opposite of movement work. You can’t do it if you’re stuck.

So, go find the one, or two, or five, (some of us have ADHD), things that really, really matter to you.

And then, go find the people who are already doing that work. This is key. Don't go start a new group from scratch. Chances are like 97% that somebody is already out there making this movement work. You don't have to be a leader all of the time. Sometimes you can join somebody else's movement.

Moving the ball forward takes incredible, sustained labor, in the truest sense of the word labor.

Not what the post-capitalistic hellscape we currently occupy wants you to think of labor. To labor, to birth, to bring forth.

Y'all, the most powerful crucibles for change happen when small groups of committed individuals gather together and do the work. And that is what you must do here. Find ways to meaningfully make change in an area of the work that matters to you.

And then, take a nap, eat something, take a walk, take care of your body.

It's gonna be a long, long fight. You can't do it ill-prepared for battle.

Breathe, feel your feelings, and then ask…what's next?