It’s November. It’s getting cooler outside, the leaves are changing, and people everywhere are getting in the holiday spirit. Of course by “everywhere” I mean the United States and by “holiday spirit” I mean whatever emotions people have during election season.

I think most people in the English-speaking world know that we have an election going on in the US right now, and most of us who are voting in the election probably have pretty strong feelings about it. We’re all thinking about the future ramifications of the result, and we are constantly being reminded that the stakes have never been higher. We’re in the typical media landscape where everybody is freaking out about the next president, some people are in tune with the state-level issues on their ballot, and a small handful of people are paying close attention to their city council and school board.

I made a video recently where I documented the process of me researching my local candidates, making a serious, concerted effort to vote for what I believe is in the best interest of my local community. I think I did a pretty good job, and I am proud of myself for putting in the effort to find the candidates that matched my values, instead of just voting for the incumbent or not voting at all. And if you haven’t voted yet, I strongly urge you to take some time to seriously consider the local issues and offices on your ballot. Local elections for things like school board have extremely low turnout compared to things like the presidential election. Your local elections are where your vote has the highest impact, and the consequences of them are way more apparent than whatever happens at the federal level. I feel like it’s stupidly obvious for me to be saying this and you have heard it all before. But as cliche as it is, it really is true. You can go to vote.org to find all the information relevant to you.

All of that to say, this election has been taking up a huge amount of my mind space. I feel bad that that is the case. It feels like a super unhealthy thing to admit to, but that’s where I am at right now.

Every morning for the past month or so, I wake up, I brush my teeth, I make breakfast and coffee for me and my fiancée, and I’m usually consuming some kind of election/political content while I’m cooking. I feel even more embarrassed to admit that most of the election content I consume is from political streamers, but I like to think many people are the same way. Am I in a media bubble, yes, but I recognize that, I’m fine with it, and if I regurgitate anything I learn to other people, I pretty much always give the caveat that my media bubble is extremely biassed. I’m particularly into the Three Wonks podcast, I follow one of the hosts, Econoboi, and I do tune into Vaush’s streams when I have time (God I feel so cringe for watching Vaush).

I like to think I’m somewhat politically engaged most of the time anyway. I don’t really keep up with the news a lot, but I enjoy learning about politics and policy. I have always had an interest in geopolitics, pretty much since 2011, when I was growing up in Egypt during the Arab Spring.

This level of mind pollution is different though. It’s not all the time, but some days I find that the election is taking up most of my mind space. Most recently, I have been thinking about how I will be spending my Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I’m currently in the UK, so I will be a little bit behind on the news because of the time difference. When I go to bed on Tuesday night, people on the East Coast will still be voting, and I will wake up and make breakfast during their middle of the night. I pretty much know that on Wednesday morning, I will probably be tuning in to Econoboi’s stream, maybe bouncing into some other streams as well, and I’m honestly kind of excited for it.

As much as I know the gravity of what is at stake nationally, and as much as it stresses me out sometimes, I am still finding myself looking forward to tuning in to the streams. Part of me is hoping that I wake up before they call the result because I want to be there when it happens. I’m mentally prepping for election night like I’m about to watch a huge sports match.

I guess that is probably how the media wants us to feel. The presidential elections are always hyped up to the max, and serious issues like the war in Palestine are sort of just being reported in the background. Campaigns spend millions of dollars on ads, and candidates are rushing up to the last minute to host as many rallies, give as many speeches, and shake as many hands as possible, they campaign vibes with a little bit of policy sprinkled in, and there is a part of me that just can’t get enough of it. (I actually think the Harris/Walz campaign has not really been vibey enough lately, and I preferred their pre-DNC energy, but that’s just me.)

So as I’m getting ready to go to bed this Monday night, I’m borderline obsessing over the fact that tomorrow is going to be huge, while still being fully aware that I’m not going to be awake for much of it, and being kind of disappointed about it. As much of my mind space as this is occupying, I also know that I get this way pretty much every election. Until Wednesday, I’ll just keep going back and forth between hyper-focusing on the election, and trying to be a normal person going about my normal day, trying to not let it affect my mental health too much.

If you have made it this far in the post, thank you for reading. I would love for you to check out my latest video, and consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. Also check out the Wasted Minutes podcast to hear my fiancée and I yap about whatever piques our interest that episode.