The Next Four Years

Get out a pen and paper

Find a piece of paper, preferably unlined. Get out your favorite pen. Somewhere on the page, write down 2024-2028. Draw a box around it. This is going to be your plan for the next four years.

List your values. What is important to you? What do you want to spend this chunk of time building? Write down your goals for the next four years. Big picture and small picture. Include things that you are already working towards. For the small picture goals, it might be helpful to break them down into smaller lists.

You may also want to make a list of your privileges. What are the things that are going to help keep you safe? How can you use these things to work towards your values?

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I want to take care of the people in my life. I want our home to be a safe place. In 2025, after two years and hundreds of volunteer hours, I want to finish the process of buying a house with help from a local nonprofit. In 2026, I want to trade in our car for one that can go further than 60 miles at a time. Starting now, I want to focus on my health so that I’m above ground and capable of doing those things. I survived four years of this before, and I will do it again, but I do not want to do it the same way. I will not be doomscrolling, which means that I’ve deactivated most of my social media accounts. I want to lower my stress, which means taking my medicine consistently. I want to lower my cholesterol, which means more fruits and vegetables and more consistent exercise.

I’m expecting that there will be fewer safety nets in the next four years. I think it’s a real possibility that things like food or medicine may be less safe than they have been in my lifetime. Because of this, we’re preemptively tightening our belts so that we can build our own safety net. We will be using the library more. We will be playing with the games and puzzles we already have at home. We will be spending more time with our children rather than staring at devices that fill us with dread and make us want to buy things. The $25.00 budget I’ve given myself for Starbucks is going to savings now—also, speaking of anxiety spikes, I’m quitting caffeine.

Most of my list is focused on myself and my family. I wrestled with that, but ultimately I think that’s right. To be honest, I struggle during the best of times. There are two small goals that are more outward-facing, however. I plan to keep attending a local group of mothers of disabled children. I think it’s a place where I can influence people in a positive way and I have expertise with the bureaucracies that families have to interface with.

And the second thing is that I want to talk about what it’s like to live through this as a family with somewhat limited resources. I’m trying to engage with as little post-election analysis as possible, but I have seen the argument that this was about the economy, that a vote for the winning side was not only forgivable but expected from someone who is struggling. I don’t see many working class voices with my values being amplified. We’re struggling but we know that scapegoating vulnerable people isn’t going to help us. We’re trying to hang on. Our hearts are broken and we’re angry at the ways wealth and power circle the wagons around one another. I promise we’re here.