Monica Lewinsky: 25 Ways for Us to Calm the F--k Down Between Now and November 5

“Anyone want to meet up and just scream? We could get food after.”

I saw this post on Insta the other morning, a cry for help from The Midult (@themidult), a forum-led platform out of the UK that some friends of mine started. It got me thinking. Forget about the election and its aftermath. How the fuck are we even gonna get to November 5?

I don’t know about you, but to me the Democratic convention—which took place two months ago—seems like it happened in a far-away, feel-good time warp. Ever since, the 2024 election cycle has been brutal. And barely a day goes by without some alarming MAGA-world flare-up (Donald Trump calling January 6 a “day of love”; threats of vigilantes going after FEMA workers) causing me to chew what’s left of my cuticles.

So, as a public service, my friends, here is a listicle of 25 things we all can do between now and the 2024 election to calm ourselves the fuck down—and keep our sanity. We’re all in this together.

1. VOTE EARLY. I know. It’s counterintuitive. But the very first thing you can do to alleviate some of your angst is to participate now and vote early. Mail in your ballot. Or vote via drop box. Or go to your precinct in person. Check with your local election office for details: Many states allow some form of early voting. For more information, visit vote.gov.

If you can tick off that box, you’ll have exercised some modicum of control. And you’ll simply feel better by having fulfilled part of the bargain of living in a representative democracy. Let’s face it, your vote really matters (as I suggested in this space during the 2022 midterms). Especially when the margins are this razor-thin.

Then, of course, there is the art of distraction. I have played more in-person games in the last six months than in the last six years combined. Social connection and community-building are panaceas in times of stress. And now that the pandemic has subsided, coming together to play games IRL is not only personally gratifying, but also an ideal way to divert one’s attention. Some examples.

2. BAM, CRACK, DOT. You have not really lived until you’ve called “mahj!” Lately, wherever I go, when I mention I’ve recently learned to play mah-jongg (the American iteration), I meet someone else who plays. Often, it’s someone like me—a newbie. While the game has lately gained a cultish, cliquish following in certain circles, its popularity is cyclical. Vanity Fair, in fact, wrote about the mah-jongg craze after it took America by storm in the Roaring Twenties.