Hillary's Loss Only Inspires Me To Fight Even Harder

With the presidential election process now over, I am tired. Like most Americans, I did what I could to support my party and voted in hopes that my choice for the next president would win.

But sadly, that was not the case.

And after the nerve-wracking craziness of live coverage of the voting process, I am exhausted. The entire election process — not just these last few days — has been incredibly hard to watch.

I can't understand how so many people believe that Trump — a man who has proven time and time again that he believes it's perfectly fine to speak negatively of women, minorities, and those of the LGBT community — could be the right choice as leader of our nation.

Too many people thought that he was the "lesser of two evils" or refused to vote at all because they believed that neither candidate was the right choice.

I understand where these people come from, but I CANNOT relate. Because I know that voting does make a difference, no matter how small that difference may be.

I watched Hillary Clinton's concession speech — absorbing every word she said, hoping to find some consolation in her loss. I admired her strength and respected that she was able to admit that she was sad — but I found solace in her statement that THIS is not the end of our fight.

According to her speech, she will keep an open mind. She will never give up. So that is EXACTLY what I plan on doing too.

I'M STILL WITH HER because she reinforced the belief that we women can do anything — that we should fight tooth and nail for everything we believe in and keep her chins high — even when things don't go our way.

She reminded me to stay happy to be a woman in a world where we are not always respected and where it is the norm to underestimate us because of our gender.

I cried when I thought of everyone who isn't a white man. What will happen to their rights?

I cried thinking about all of those who were hoping for change and now have to fear for the revocation of their basic human rights. What will happen to them?

I may continue to cry when I think about the future, and I may falter in my hope that our country will be OK — but I will NEVER give up. I owe that to Hillary's perseverance and all of the other strong people I see refusing to back down or give in.

I will continue to fight for my rights as a woman — as a human — in a world where nothing is certain, and I will look to the future with hope that it is bright for everyone.