Exit ... Stage Left

I've come to the decision to sit out the rest of this campaign season. I know this will come as a great disappointment to all my readers who have come to rely on my insight in determining who they should vote for (lol).

Every four years, I get heavily invested in presidential elections.  Going back to 2000, when I was 25, I have always stayed up to the minute on campaign news, followed the poll aggregates, and had plenty to talk and argue about with friends, coworkers, and the occasional online stranger. Nowadays, with social media, it's even easier to stay in the know with all the latest news.

The problem is this: I care too much. It matters too much to me who wins and who loses. I form very strong opinions and become heavily invested in those opinions.

This always causes me to basically spend all year during election years talking, reading, and - especially - thinking about the election. And this naturally leads me to continually feeling riled up and "concerned" about how things are going to turn out.

In short, I spend all year releasing a bunch of stress hormones into my system.

The difference this year is that this is the first presidential election since my heart attack. And I don't need another six months of stress over something I ultimately can't control.

So I've decided, from here forward, to sit this one out. No more reading articles, no more tweets, no more news and constant updates. Also, no blog posts, retweets, instagram posts, or discussions/debates with people.

I'm simply bowing out of the discussion.

I do intend to continue following and analyzing the polls, because I enjoy doing that sort of thing.  I still have a very deep and abiding interest in who wins and who loses. But I'm not following, or talking about, the campaign anymore.  I feel like this is the best choice I can make for my body and mind at this point.  Sorry to anyone who might be disappointed.

My final public commentary on this year's election is this: keep everything in perspective.  No matter who wins, they will neither save the world nor destroy it.  Life will go on.