Your election day survival kit

Photo: Hill Street Studios/Getty Images

If 2020 hasn’t taught us this lesson already, we’re about to learn it: Humans have a hard time dealing with uncertainty. It evokes fear. Anxiety. An obsession with hitting “refresh” on [insert your rabbithole of choice] until the world makes even less sense than it did before.

But uncertainty also presents an opportunity. When the future is unknown, we can shape it. When worries compete for attention inside our heads, we can listen to them — or politely decline to take their calls. Most importantly, when the world feels out of control, we can control the only thing we ever could: ourselves. Here are our favorite stories about staying calm, communicating with people who disagree with you, and caring for yourself. Read them if you need to. And please vote.

Will Leitch reminds us that “in the span of eternal history, this is but a blip.”

Seven Ways To Keep Yourself Sane Until Election Day

Cathy B. Glenn, Ph.D. lists 20 lesser-known self-care practices.

20 Serious Self-Care Practices You Don’t Know You Need Yet

Brian Merchant gathers the best speculative fiction OneZero published this year — including stories about robot revolutions and parallel universes.

This Week, Remember That Literally Any Future Is Possible

Mollie Birney, M.A. teaches us what “sitting with your feelings” actually means.

What Your Therapist Means When They Ask You to ‘Sit With Your Feelings’

Don Johnson explains how to engage with someone who disagrees with you.

How ‘Verbal Aikido’ Can Help You Avoid Stupid Arguments

In Forge, Cari Nazeer gathers 20 short and timely tips for accepting ambiguity.

25 Different Ways to Cope With Uncertainty