Five with Fry

2: Five Things to Remember as the Trump Administration Begins

• Dr. Jen Fry • Season 1 • Episode 2

Share episode

This episode emphasizes the importance of self-care and active political engagement during turbulent times. We explore how personal boundaries, emotional awareness, and strategic voting can help navigate the complexities of current politics.

• Prioritizing personal self-care in chaotic times 
• Ignoring emotional distress damages health and relationships.
• Political apathy harms communities and enables injustice.
• The Democratic Party has got to stop waiting for the perfect person 
• Know that we have to be here for the long haul. 

If you love what you heard, don't forget to head over to where podcasts are played, to subscribe, share and leave a review. Got a topic you want us to tackle? Drop us a message.

Jen:

Friends, welcome to Five with Fry, where five is the magic number, whether it's five minutes, five questions or anything that fits in five. I dive into the big topics that matter, sometimes alone and other times with a friend. From navigating sports conflict to family dynamics, travel, tech, hard-hitting issues and even politics Nothing and I mean nothing's off the table. This is where curiosity meets conversation, and we always sit at an intersection. I'm your host, dr Jen Fry of Jen Fry Talks. Let's get into it. Hey friends, welcome to episode two.

Jen:

I'm filming this right before the inauguration and I think we can agree that there's a lot of feelings and emotions in the air, and I was listening to this amazing Instagram influencer I follow called 1910.craftsmanonburns, and it's an older white liberal couple and she was mentioning how she was in DC and how the air just didn't feel joyous, right, like how do these folks win? And they're still mad, and there's just a lot of emotions and feelings in the air. And so for this episode, I wanted to have my five inauguration points. We usually do five of something, so this time it's going to be my five inauguration points. The first one is I need y'all to take care of yourselves, like radically take care of yourselves and whatever that means for you. Is it that you're not having conversations with certain people? Is it not that you are listening to certain stuff, watching certain stuff, whatever it is? You need to pay attention to those things that upset you and don't do them. You know, my sister, who lives in Bali, loves to talk politics with me, and I literally will tell her I'm not talking any politics, I have to live it. You don't? That's one of my boundaries. I had another friend who would just consistently watch the news all the time with the first Trump inauguration and I was like you can't do that to yourself because it's starting to have these effects on you that you're not even realizing For me. I know that I can't listen or watch certain things. I can read it, but if I listen to it or watch it, it has a different effect. So I need you to take care of yourself in whatever that means for you. You don't have to justify it, just do what it means for you.

Jen:

The second thing is really pay attention to how you feel in these coming days, weeks, months, whatever it is. How does it affect your health, your relationships, your personality? You know, we don't realize that we could be holding on to so much stuff and it starts to make us lose patience. It makes us get angrier quicker. It makes us not want to have fun or joy, and don't do that. Don't allow this thing that they already systemically want to affect you with to also affect your personality. So start paying attention to that. If you start getting really snippy out of nowhere, say, hmm, this might be affecting me more than I realized, and so just take stock in yourself, because we don't want it to affect your health, just like they're trying to affect us systemically.

Jen:

I think the third thing is is that making sure we tell people you cannot be apolitical in these times. When you are apolitical, it is literally like you're standing in the middle of a moving walkway and people are trying to get around you to get stuff done and you are stopping them. Do not allow people around you to be apolitical, because what they're really saying is that I know that, no matter what legislation is passed, I'm going to be okay, because why else would you not care what happens in politics if you know you're going to ultimately be okay? That apolitical bullshit needs to go. We cannot have that. Nowadays, the world is on fire literally, because if we don't pay attention to politics, politics is fin to pay attention to us, so we cannot have people that are going to be apolitical. It is just not acceptable. And so if you're around people who say, well, I just don't do politics, push them. See why don't they? What's their reasoning for it? They're going to get upset, they're going to get frustrated, but it doesn't matter. We need to start pushing people on this BS, apolitical nonsense. It is literally standing in the middle of a walkway and stopping people from doing the needed work.

Jen:

The fourth thing is the damn Democratic Party needs to stop waiting for the perfect boyfriend. What's that whole new little song on TikTok or Instagram? I'm looking for a guy in finance, trust fund six, five blue eyes. That's literally what the Democratic Party is doing. They are looking for the perfect candidate. If the candidate's not perfect, oh well, we're not going to vote. I don't like this person. We can't do that anymore.

Jen:

The Republicans have nailed to have two or three points that they will fight tooth and nail for, and we're sitting here waiting for our perfect person while the opportunities are passing us by. We have got to be better than that. There was this Instagram video and this guy was like well, I didn't vote for Kamala because I didn't like her. And I was like, sir, that's where we're at. We're looking to pick a president who's going to make legislation and change people's lives and hopefully affect the vulnerable population in a positive way, and you're worried about liking the person. What kind of elementary trash is that? We can't do that. This whole idea well, I don't like them. No, the Republicans aren't doing that. They don't care what other things their candidate has done, as long as they're nailing the two or three points that matter to them.

Jen:

And we need to start thinking a lot more strategically and start thinking about the long haul. We need to start looking about judges. We need to start thinking about the Supreme Court. We need to be thinking about all those things. I don't like this person. This is not middle school. You need to buckle up and we need to start thinking smarter and having better strategy for the Democratic Party. I swear to everything holy, we need to have a better strategy for the party.

Jen:

And the fifth thing, and most important, is that y'all need to know we are here for the long haul. I, like you, wish that we did not have to go through this again. I know why do we have to keep doing this? Why, why, why, why? I agree with you, but the reality is we're here and we have to know we're going for the long haul. We can't change what's happened, but we can't stop pushing. We can't stop with the revolution. We can't stop with the resistance. We can't stop. They're going to go after DEI. They're going to go after trans folks. We already know some of their major plans.

Jen:

We have to figure out how to keep pushing because, while some of those things might not affect you, they will affect people you love and, just like the old saying, they're going to go after certain populations first, but trust and believe they're going to end up coming after you in the end. So, while you might think you're safe, that is a false sense of security and I need you to realize that. So my five inaugural points are please take care of yourself in whatever way that means. Pay attention to how the next days, weeks, months are affecting your health, your personality, your relationships. People cannot be apolitical in these times. You can't stand in the middle of a moving sidewalk and stopping the rest of the people who are actually getting stuff done. The Democrat Party needs to stop waiting for the perfect boyfriend. And, lastly, know we are here for the long haul. We can get stuff done. We've done it before and we can do it again.

Jen:

Friends, you got this Well. Friends, that's it for this episode of Five with Fry. Your dose of five insights, ideas and inspiration. If you love what you heard, don't forget to head over to where podcasts are played, to subscribe, share and leave a review. Got a topic you want us to tackle? Drop us a message. We'd love to hear from you. You can come follow me on IG, twitter, the TikTok at Jen Fry Talks, or join me on LinkedIn. Look for me at Dr Jen Fry. Until next time, stay curious, stay bold and keep the conversation going. See you on the next Five with Fry.