It might be time to step outside.

I’m thinking near the ocean or under another gorgeous full moon, something to help gain perspective.

Over the past few months, things have become incredibly myopic, and while I understand disappointment, I am confused by the over-the-top drama.

My choice for elected-follower didn’t win on Tuesday either, but a lot of voters are happy.

The businessman on Twitter, the one with the weird hair, he got the most states on the CNN map. He won. That’s how it works.

In January, like so many Januarys before, we will have a new president. Four years is a fraction of a lifetime. A speck of dust on history.

To say that we are doomed or that nothing will ever be the same is ridiculous. “With respect,” to use my daughter’s phrase.

The frenzy since the big night was making me a little paranoid. Maybe the people calling Canada had the inside scoop.

To find my center, I did a little research, and we all need to take a deep breath.

Two-thousand-and-sixteen is not the first time the American people elected a strange duck.

John Quincy Adams kept a full grown alligator in the White House bathtub. Martin Van Buren brought a pair of loaded pistols to Senate meetings, just in case.

James Polk and his wife banned card games, liquor, and dancing at all functions.

Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan both claimed to have seen UFOs and Carter’s brother once peed right in front of the press.

There are not enough keystrokes in the world to discuss the sexists, adulterers, racists and bad influences. While Jefferson was running for president, supporters for the other side said if he won, “we would see our wives and daughters the victims of legal prostitution.”

Yeah, that didn’t happen.

In fact, history shows elections have always been nasty. And now and then the majority elects a power-obsessed insider or a misogynist, or in the case of Abraham Lincoln— a licensed a bartender.

With everything going on during Lincoln’s time, the bartender thing was important enough to worry about? Really?

My research confirmed what I already suspected. We are fine.

Our nation is made up of its people and their actions. One person, no matter how red they get in the face, does not undo that.

While we may have some loopy years ahead, we can handle it. It has happened before.

The people still protesting can go home now and hug their loved ones, make some tea, read a good book. They can also hold the new president accountable and find local ways to get involved.

If voters want to make a difference, they can watch where they shop and which corporations they give their money to because that’s where the real power lies in this country.

It is time for some perspective. Unless this election is simply an excuse to create a self-serving stir. If that’s the case, carry on.

That has been done before too.

My thoughts from the laundry room. Restless night.

America balance crazy life Election history learning people politics thoughts Voting America coping Election 2016 History learning life thoughts