Americans are living with huge, unspoken, collective political trauma that extends far beyond the last four years. Most power systems function like abusive relationships. Escaping and recovering from abuse is a long, hard process. It brings up all the buried terrors of the past.

To the person in the abusive relationship, this is the most frightening moment - when you understand that you are in danger, that your reality is not what you had been told it was, but you don’t yet believe in the possibility of escape. You’re confused and scared. You freeze up.

You want to run or hide- not from the abuse but from your own awareness of crisis. You twist yourself into insane logical contortions to convince yourself it’s not that bad, that it’s all your fault, or both. You feel powerless. You mourn the self and the future you have lost.

But eventually there comes a point where facing the reality of the nightmare you are living in, and the terror and uncertainty that comes with not seeing a future beyond it, is worth than staying frozen and afraid. For the world’s sake, I hope enough of America gets there soon.