It wasn’t lost on me that the Saturday after the election, I woke up with a sore left arm. By year’s end, I found myself consigned to physical therapy—a humbling journey of healing that echoed the political and cultural landscape we navigate daily.
Twice a week, I trekked to the PT center. Unwittingly, I showed up to my first session in a Uniqlo Peace for All T-shirt, emblazoned with a multicolored globe and the words: Diversity Moves the Earth. It was fitting. In that room, filled with a rainbow coalition of patients and therapists, I connected the unlikely dots between personal recovery and our collective need for political and social healing. In the
PT center, we were broken Americans healing our bodies together. Each of us mattered to the therapists and their assistants, who guided us with care and patience. It struck me how this mirrored the broader national experience—ordinary people doing their best to get by in a country where systemic inequalities often dictate their circumstances.
This journey gave me a newfound compassion for those who might have been swayed to vote for a populist leader. How could city dwellers, comfortably nestled in gentrified neighborhoods, fail to understand that in rural America, you can’t simply gentrify your way out of poverty?
Too often, media darlings with their viral think pieces sow division instead of healing. Algorithms keep us clicking on antagonistic content, reinforcing the same old beliefs and attitudes. But shame and guilt are poor motivators for change. You can’t convert someone to your cause by condemning them as “The Other.” Calling people in rural areas racists or dismissing their struggles won’t bring them into the fold.
Feeling worthless is fertile ground for demagogues, who offer seductive rhetoric that masks the deeper problems. I understood that more intimately during those weeks of physical therapy when my own setbacks left me feeling worthless. As the year drew to a close, physical limitations and illness threatened to dampen my spirit. Yet, I found comfort in small acts of joy. A Kris Kringle gift exchange brought me a jade ear cuff—a simple, material indulgence that countered the gloom. The PT assistant, noticing my intensity, reminded me to ease up.
Healing is not a race. Every session, with music playing and patients moving to the beat, our lives were linked in a shared quest to get better. The encouragement from others—that I would return to my weightlifting routine in due time—helped me embrace the idea that a full, robust life is possible even when burdened by illness. A friend once told me that everyone experiences trauma. It’s not a contest to declare whose pain is greatest. Carrying a chip on your shoulder like a designer handbag may work for some, but it’s not my style.
Instead, I found solace in small, everyday rituals—like putting on earrings or enjoying quiet moments in my apartment. Tiny acts of self-care, no matter how mundane, are acts of love. And love heals. In the PT room, I realized that everyone moves forward with a source of strength—whether it’s God, the Universe, or even the spirit of Jim Beam. Our political system may be broken, but Americans are resilient, striving to do the best we can with what we have. It’s time to rise up, not with condemnation but with compassion.
To see each other for who we truly are—good people navigating life’s challenges. For those of us in the PT room, every day is “do or die.” We’re too focused on getting our bearings to waste time on hate. Gratitude for life, for ordinary comforts, can be a radical act. Love should be the norm, not the exception. It’s love, in its many forms, that will guide us out of this mess. Inserting two earrings, putting on a show for myself on a quiet day—these small, seemingly insignificant acts remind me that love heals.
And perhaps, love is what will heal America.
Author Info:
Christina Bruni
Christina Bruni is the author of the new book Working Assets: A Career Guide for Peers. She contributed a chapter "Recovery is Within Reach" to Benessere Psicologico: Contemporary Thought on Italian American Mental Health.
