From the Editor's Desk: Practicing Self-Care During Election Week

We’ve done it. We’ve made it to Election Week.

In a year that’s felt like a marathon and a sprint at the same time, this election season has undoubtedly added to our stress levels. We’ve dealt with heightened emotions as many of the campaign issues we’re hearing about are not only important issues to women, but sometimes tied to personal traumas we’ve experienced. The increased polarization in our nation has made community and friendship more challenging. Once we’ve cast our votes, there isn’t anything more we can do to control the outcomes of particular races we care about—but that won’t keep most of us from doomscrolling social media and worrying (as if that might make the situation more bearable).

As the team at Verily thought about how we can best serve women during this week, we decided to center our content around self-care. Because whether your candidate wins or loses, whether we know the outcome of certain races Tuesday night, Wednesday morning, or weeks or months from now, we all deserve moments of peace as we finish out this challenging year.

Tomorrow, we’ll have a piece sharing ways we’re planning to take care of ourselves and our mental health on Election Day and the day (or days) afterwards. Later in the week, we’ll have a round-up of books to read when you want to escape the cycle of sound bytes. Our self-care content also extends to life beyond the election with a piece on how to develop a hobby of letter-writing, make-up tips for hooded eyes, and a guide for keeping your sanity (as best you can) if you find yourself needing to self-quarantine.

We’d love to hear from you, too. How are you planning to practice self-care this week? Let us know here.