Welcome to the Girl Next Door Podcast. I'm Kelsey. And I'm Erica. In every episode, we bring our different

perspectives to honest, funny conversations that feel like chatting with good friends. We started this show

years ago when we were next door neighbors and still haven't run out of things to talk and laugh about

yet.

Friends, hello.

I'm not sure if you've heard,

but we're having a presidential election here in the U.S. this year.

And the fact that we all just collectively groaned, no matter what side of politics you are on,

and maybe even if you don't live in the U.S.

is why we're here today.

Yes, we are going to chat about how we're feeling heading into this election season,

what we can do to take care of ourselves through election day and beyond,

and how to navigate tricky conversations.

And then over on Patreon, we'll be continuing the discussion talking about how we

currently engage in the news without getting overwhelmed. Okay, let's get into it. I heard an

interesting opinion recently that the real divide in our country isn't between Republicans and

Democrats, but between people who care about and follow politics and people who don't.

And I can understand that. The news overwhelmingly trends to negative coverage. But we like to be

positive over here on the Girl Next Door Podcast. So let's start with some optimism. How about if we

each give our most positive pitch for why we pay attention to politics and vote. Okay. First of all,

I think it's important to say that I didn't always. And this has definitely ebbed and flowed. And I think

sometimes we just think this is static. Like I'm either a political person or I'm not. Yeah.

...