I’m a NP in repro/sexual health. For the repro stuff I would strongly recommend having abortion pills in your medicine cabinet. I got two sets through AidAccess and they are $150 each but come very quickly (aka still time to do it today/this weekend before the election!)
I also believe ALL people with uteruses of reproductive age should be asking their providers for a prescription for birth control pills. You can tell your provider you want them for painful periods or menstrual regulation if you are using another contraceptive method already (or don’t need contraception due to previous sterilization, etc). Keep them in your medicine cabinet for a friend/family member who might need them even if you don’t. I am stock piling for my nieces!
Also have friends who have asked their providers for a prescription for an IUD. Then you pick it up at the pharmacy and keep it at home for future use.
Most prescriptions are only good for 1 year before they expire (the prescription, not the medication or IUD), so you may not be able to use that unfilled prescription after then.
I am planning on staying off Instagram and Facebook. They are a good source of information and support of like minded people, but also a distraction, addiction, soul/heat overwhelm, and Isomt want to support Zuckerberg and advertisers who support Donald Trumps inauguration, and stop fact checking and therefore contribute to the distraction of society, world order, etc. I won’t close them permanently. I want to, but I am giving myself a 100 day challenge, to align with Trunps first 100 days in office. I may get on only to see if I can download / backup my imagery and info. I will look for an alternate social media source that may still have the benefits… without the Trump support and lack of fact checking. Perhaps we see a new format for the positive support we need. And it the resistance.
Love the 100 day challenge! There's a week long Meta boycott starting tonight at 12 a.m. I've paused my FB & IG accounts and am starting with staying off all meta platforms next week. But now I'm going to do it for the 100 days and then hopefully permanently.
My husband got a vasectomy to help make sure that I don't get pregnant. I don't want to be pregnant during Trump's presidency and I can't imagine bringing another child into this country, so my husband decided a vasectomy was the best plan.
Thanks for sharing this Emily, great tips and a good note on perspective. I’ll add that for folks who are childfree and plan to remain that way, think about sterilization, especially while it is still covered by the ACA.
Agreed. I'm scheduled for February 13. Glad to just get it dealt with (was MUCH quicker and easier than expected, I asked for the referral in early December)
1. Though an actual second passport is accessible to few, emigration is definitely an option for many (though it is not for many more). We did it in 2022 due to being targeted by racists, priced out of our rental, and witnessing wholesale destruction of our forested neighborhood. I write about emigrating conscientiously from the US in The Conscientious Emigrant, and help clients plan for it. https://theconscientiousemigrant.substack.com/
2. To your point about boundaries, I'm about to publish some new social media rules of engagement which involve VERY firm boundaries in the face of proliferating fake accounts and vitriol, including by real people who hide behind no-photo-first-name-last-initial-no-accountability profiles. Long and short: delete and block. No one of integrity can afford the energy and stress of dealing with that.
Just subscribed your your newsletter. I've lived in a few other countries as well (France, England, Swisse, Wales, etc.) and have also been thinking of leaving the country, although I like my little organic farmer life on a little piece of land at the end of the road. 👩🌾🌾🌾
That sounds idyllic! I hope it stays a haven 🙏 Still good to have a backup plan, and you have an advantage by having lived abroad already. Thank you for subscribing.
It sounds idyllic and it's not bad at all. But we're a Blue bubble in a red district (although we Dems made a lot of progress with second homeowners in the area) in an even redder county. It's an agricultural area. My town is also a sanctuary city and there have been terrifying ICE raids here in the past. We have an active Anti Hate Task Force but, as a Jewish woman with Holocaust survivor grandparents (or as any decent person with a pulse) it was chilling secretly volunteering to shelter ppl in my home should they need to hide...Just waiting to see what my Orange farmer neighbors do when the immigrant workers are no longer here to tend their fields and they struggle to grow enough produce or make enough wine to pay the mortgages on what is some of the most expensive farmland in the country. Hateful morons.
Yes. And if history is any indication, hateful morons rarely recognize when it is their own actions that have created their economic problems and instead, will scapegoat. FWIW, I have several Jewish clients who share the ancestral trauma of Holocaust surviving ancestors - they see the writing on the wall when others are in denial. I continue to pray I'm wrong about the trajectory of the US, but I don't think I am.
Really good advice. In addition, ppl may want to consider getting "dumb phones." Punkt is a Swiss company that makes some pretty secure models. But an old school Nokia or flip phone with a smaller screen helps keep you off of the internet thereby limiting your trackable info. If you stick with your smart phone, simply turning it off once or twice a day interrupts a lot of spyware. Ronan Farrow wrote a very informative article about government surveillance and I used to work in Geneva, where my work and personal phones (and my mother's) were tapped. It's far more common than you think and it's extremely disorienting and leaves you feeling very vulnerable. Take precautions, folks. 🙏💕
A piece of advice for Google: change to the search engine Ecosia that plants trees from their profits every time we search. Helps to combat climate change when the climate denier takes office.
Wonderful list, thanks Emily! I wanted to restack but literally refuse to have president musk on my timeline, so commenting instead. I would also suggest deleting FB, IG, WhatsApp, and Amazon if you can. Where it’s not possible to delete all three, perhaps just one. I think it will be very important to starve the oligarchy of our attention, access, data, and eyeballs to monetize. Good luck to us all.
love your content and desperately needed this post! feeling a little better about everything. but i'm concerned about the unroll.me recommendation. can you advise on this further?
i am totally not an expert so might be misunderstanding some info i've read on it! my understanding is unroll.me is not safe and it can (and has?) share users' personal information including private messages with third parties (because the service is free, this is how they make money). sounds like some of this info is "anonymized" but i am not 100% sure if these things are concerning or not? if not, i would definitely like to use it...
We disclose the information we collect to our parent company and service providers, who help us with the processing and storage of your data and otherwise operate and improve our Service. Additionally, unless otherwise restricted by your email provider, we disclose the information that we collect to:
- our parent company, who helps us develop measurement products and datasets;
- our affiliated companies, who enhance our measurement capabilities and theirs by combining the information that we collect with other information available to them;
service providers and trusted business partners that work with us to develop and resell measurement products; and
- customers (including third parties and affiliates) that have access to our measurement products and datasets
We may also disclose information about you:
- if we are required to do so by law or legal process,
- to law enforcement authorities or other government officials,
when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss or in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity, or
if necessary to protect the vital interests of another individual.
Additionally, we reserve the right to transfer personal information we have about you in the event we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business or assets. This Privacy Policy will apply to your personal information that is shared with (before and after the close of any transaction) or transferred to the new entity.
Thank you for this, and for not putting it behind your paywall.
We'll be volunteering at Cradles to Crayons Chicago, working to end #clothinginsecurity for the 1 in 3 Chicagoland children who live in poverty. It's a mission close my heart (I'm on the board), and I've committed to being there once a month this year. I invite any of your readers who are in the Chicago area (or Boston or Philadelphia to reach out to me on Substack DM to learn more.
Item #1. I have heard you can get Plan B at Cosco/Sams Club pretty cheap & you do not have to have a membership, just say you are going to the pharmacy (like $6, can get 2 boxes at a time & I believe the shelf life is 2 years).
Also, a reminder that with your doctor appointments, you do not have to disclose or provide on the forms the date of your last menstrual cycle. It is in your control to ask why information is needed & whether or not you want to provide it…
Great advice! I have DeleteMe and am SO grateful for it! I also changed my info with the central appraisal district so online my address is listed as "current owner."
We have flood insurance. Don't quote me, but I swear you have to take it out when you begin your homeowner's policy, or else you lose out.
Thank you Emily! This is so helpful!
I’m a NP in repro/sexual health. For the repro stuff I would strongly recommend having abortion pills in your medicine cabinet. I got two sets through AidAccess and they are $150 each but come very quickly (aka still time to do it today/this weekend before the election!)
I also believe ALL people with uteruses of reproductive age should be asking their providers for a prescription for birth control pills. You can tell your provider you want them for painful periods or menstrual regulation if you are using another contraceptive method already (or don’t need contraception due to previous sterilization, etc). Keep them in your medicine cabinet for a friend/family member who might need them even if you don’t. I am stock piling for my nieces!
Also have friends who have asked their providers for a prescription for an IUD. Then you pick it up at the pharmacy and keep it at home for future use.
I couldn’t agree more! I had my Nexplanon implant replaced right before the election just to be safe!
Most prescriptions are only good for 1 year before they expire (the prescription, not the medication or IUD), so you may not be able to use that unfilled prescription after then.
I am planning on staying off Instagram and Facebook. They are a good source of information and support of like minded people, but also a distraction, addiction, soul/heat overwhelm, and Isomt want to support Zuckerberg and advertisers who support Donald Trumps inauguration, and stop fact checking and therefore contribute to the distraction of society, world order, etc. I won’t close them permanently. I want to, but I am giving myself a 100 day challenge, to align with Trunps first 100 days in office. I may get on only to see if I can download / backup my imagery and info. I will look for an alternate social media source that may still have the benefits… without the Trump support and lack of fact checking. Perhaps we see a new format for the positive support we need. And it the resistance.
Love the 100 day challenge! There's a week long Meta boycott starting tonight at 12 a.m. I've paused my FB & IG accounts and am starting with staying off all meta platforms next week. But now I'm going to do it for the 100 days and then hopefully permanently.
My husband got a vasectomy to help make sure that I don't get pregnant. I don't want to be pregnant during Trump's presidency and I can't imagine bringing another child into this country, so my husband decided a vasectomy was the best plan.
Thanks for sharing this Emily, great tips and a good note on perspective. I’ll add that for folks who are childfree and plan to remain that way, think about sterilization, especially while it is still covered by the ACA.
This is part of the reason why I’m having a hysterectomy on Jan 31!
Good luck! Mine was a decade ago and I celebrate the day every year.
Agreed. I'm scheduled for February 13. Glad to just get it dealt with (was MUCH quicker and easier than expected, I asked for the referral in early December)
Thank you, Emily. I appreciate your nuts and bolts approach. I'll keep looking to you for support. We need to stick together.
Great advice. Two things I will add:
1. Though an actual second passport is accessible to few, emigration is definitely an option for many (though it is not for many more). We did it in 2022 due to being targeted by racists, priced out of our rental, and witnessing wholesale destruction of our forested neighborhood. I write about emigrating conscientiously from the US in The Conscientious Emigrant, and help clients plan for it. https://theconscientiousemigrant.substack.com/
2. To your point about boundaries, I'm about to publish some new social media rules of engagement which involve VERY firm boundaries in the face of proliferating fake accounts and vitriol, including by real people who hide behind no-photo-first-name-last-initial-no-accountability profiles. Long and short: delete and block. No one of integrity can afford the energy and stress of dealing with that.
Thank you for these great tips.
Just subscribed your your newsletter. I've lived in a few other countries as well (France, England, Swisse, Wales, etc.) and have also been thinking of leaving the country, although I like my little organic farmer life on a little piece of land at the end of the road. 👩🌾🌾🌾
That sounds idyllic! I hope it stays a haven 🙏 Still good to have a backup plan, and you have an advantage by having lived abroad already. Thank you for subscribing.
It sounds idyllic and it's not bad at all. But we're a Blue bubble in a red district (although we Dems made a lot of progress with second homeowners in the area) in an even redder county. It's an agricultural area. My town is also a sanctuary city and there have been terrifying ICE raids here in the past. We have an active Anti Hate Task Force but, as a Jewish woman with Holocaust survivor grandparents (or as any decent person with a pulse) it was chilling secretly volunteering to shelter ppl in my home should they need to hide...Just waiting to see what my Orange farmer neighbors do when the immigrant workers are no longer here to tend their fields and they struggle to grow enough produce or make enough wine to pay the mortgages on what is some of the most expensive farmland in the country. Hateful morons.
Yes. And if history is any indication, hateful morons rarely recognize when it is their own actions that have created their economic problems and instead, will scapegoat. FWIW, I have several Jewish clients who share the ancestral trauma of Holocaust surviving ancestors - they see the writing on the wall when others are in denial. I continue to pray I'm wrong about the trajectory of the US, but I don't think I am.
you're not wrong.
Thank you for writing this! I was beginning to feel some impending doom about next week and having actionable items helps break through it.
Really good advice. In addition, ppl may want to consider getting "dumb phones." Punkt is a Swiss company that makes some pretty secure models. But an old school Nokia or flip phone with a smaller screen helps keep you off of the internet thereby limiting your trackable info. If you stick with your smart phone, simply turning it off once or twice a day interrupts a lot of spyware. Ronan Farrow wrote a very informative article about government surveillance and I used to work in Geneva, where my work and personal phones (and my mother's) were tapped. It's far more common than you think and it's extremely disorienting and leaves you feeling very vulnerable. Take precautions, folks. 🙏💕
I have a flip phone! I love it.
A piece of advice for Google: change to the search engine Ecosia that plants trees from their profits every time we search. Helps to combat climate change when the climate denier takes office.
Wonderful list, thanks Emily! I wanted to restack but literally refuse to have president musk on my timeline, so commenting instead. I would also suggest deleting FB, IG, WhatsApp, and Amazon if you can. Where it’s not possible to delete all three, perhaps just one. I think it will be very important to starve the oligarchy of our attention, access, data, and eyeballs to monetize. Good luck to us all.
Start with amaxon. It will be a tough detox, but it’s kinda like time that we, the people, own the power.
The tried and true Violet Blue's "Smart Girl's Guide to Privacy" is another invaluable guide.
love your content and desperately needed this post! feeling a little better about everything. but i'm concerned about the unroll.me recommendation. can you advise on this further?
i am totally not an expert so might be misunderstanding some info i've read on it! my understanding is unroll.me is not safe and it can (and has?) share users' personal information including private messages with third parties (because the service is free, this is how they make money). sounds like some of this info is "anonymized" but i am not 100% sure if these things are concerning or not? if not, i would definitely like to use it...
this is old and i think things have had to change since then but again not sure: https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/17/21027159/unroll-me-email-privacy-ftc-settlement.
some users also say that unroll.me "hides" emails instead of fully unsubscribing from them and that spam emails increased after using it.
-----
snippet from their privacy policy: https://unroll.me/legal/privacy/
Information That We Disclose
We disclose the information we collect to our parent company and service providers, who help us with the processing and storage of your data and otherwise operate and improve our Service. Additionally, unless otherwise restricted by your email provider, we disclose the information that we collect to:
- our parent company, who helps us develop measurement products and datasets;
- our affiliated companies, who enhance our measurement capabilities and theirs by combining the information that we collect with other information available to them;
service providers and trusted business partners that work with us to develop and resell measurement products; and
- customers (including third parties and affiliates) that have access to our measurement products and datasets
We may also disclose information about you:
- if we are required to do so by law or legal process,
- to law enforcement authorities or other government officials,
when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss or in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity, or
if necessary to protect the vital interests of another individual.
Additionally, we reserve the right to transfer personal information we have about you in the event we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business or assets. This Privacy Policy will apply to your personal information that is shared with (before and after the close of any transaction) or transferred to the new entity.
Thank you for this, and for not putting it behind your paywall.
We'll be volunteering at Cradles to Crayons Chicago, working to end #clothinginsecurity for the 1 in 3 Chicagoland children who live in poverty. It's a mission close my heart (I'm on the board), and I've committed to being there once a month this year. I invite any of your readers who are in the Chicago area (or Boston or Philadelphia to reach out to me on Substack DM to learn more.
You are a light in the darkness. Thank you.
Great post Emily, thank you 🫶🏻
Item #1. I have heard you can get Plan B at Cosco/Sams Club pretty cheap & you do not have to have a membership, just say you are going to the pharmacy (like $6, can get 2 boxes at a time & I believe the shelf life is 2 years).
Also, a reminder that with your doctor appointments, you do not have to disclose or provide on the forms the date of your last menstrual cycle. It is in your control to ask why information is needed & whether or not you want to provide it…
Thank you, Emily! To add to #7: if you have kids, it’s important to freeze their credit too.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/child-identity-theft
Great advice! I have DeleteMe and am SO grateful for it! I also changed my info with the central appraisal district so online my address is listed as "current owner."
We have flood insurance. Don't quote me, but I swear you have to take it out when you begin your homeowner's policy, or else you lose out.