If I tried to identify five things this week, they would all be the same. Like many of you, I’m sure, I have been entirely subsumed by election coverage and am waiting not-so-patiently for the outcome. Every vote has to be counted. To state or imply otherwise no matter who your candidate is is indefensible.

I feel optimistic but cautious. Trump is like that character in a horror film that you can stab with a knitting needle twelve times, think is well and truly gone, and then comes crashing in through the plate glass window in the last five minutes.

I am bitterly disappointed that this election is so close. There is no defense that such a number of our fellow Americans could vote for Trump. It is infuriating to watch him on television in these days of uncertainty, lying about votes, undermining the credibility of our electoral process, sowing seeds of violence and civil unrest. In short, laying groundwork for a coup. We are the United States. We are a stable, developed democracy. How can this happen? Global conflict watchers now warn that the US faces unprecedented risk levels for political instability and election-related violence. They lay that blame at the feet of Donald Trump for his baseless and inflammatory rhetoric and his willingness to court conflict to advance his personal interests. It has no precedent in modern U.S. history and we have been brought to this place in a period of four short years of his presidency. It is terrifying to think what he would do to this country with another four.

But on the other side, hope is not lost.

Mr. Biden received more votes in history than any other presidential candidate and still counting. He has a thin but steady lead in important states. No matter what happens in the electoral college, we will likely see him win the popular vote by over 4 million. He is counseling patience and faith in our democracy. The press is no longer afraid to cut away from Trump when he lies and fact-check him on air. And people that I know that used to be Trump supporters – people who have worked elections and believe in the sanctity of our democratic process – are viewing him now with complete disgust, seeing now what they didn’t or couldn’t see before. These things have restored my faith in humanity a bit.

As did Anderson Cooper calling him an ‘obese turtle’.

It’s the little things, you know?

No matter what we’ll get through it. Find your tribe and keep fighting the good fight and doing the next right thing.