About six and a half years ago (March 30, 2014, to be exact), I began the tradition of posting something happy on Sundays “to wrap up the weekend and hopefully head into Monday with a little bit of a better mood.”

On that day, I included Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” (and I do again today). I know that there are people right now who aren’t happy with how the presidential race turned out, and they’re digging in. The rest of us, though, are cautiously optimistic, if only for the fact that we won’t be pelted with misinformation/disinformation by our own government every second of the day. Plus, no one likes being berated (at least no one sane) by people they know and love just because we prefer facts over conspiracy theories, and love and kindness over hate and bitterness (before you start, don’t; you know it’s true).

And more than a few of us are just happy that The Count is popping up in people’s social media feeds again, so hush with the negativity. We’re having childhood happiness flashbacks over here.

Here’s the deal. We voted, and while it wasn’t the resounding repudiation many of us hoped for if just for the sake of our relationships with family and friends, it was a fair vote, and no fraud has been proven despite all the accusations being thrown around. We have a democratic republic (a lot of people tend to forget about the first part of that), and that’s what we voted for.

Now we have to work on healing our country, and get back to all living in the same reality. Pop those bubbles you’ve been living in, and step out into the sun (yeah, I know, it burns). Realize that while you may not agree with your neighbors, you’re living in the same universe. They are not your enemies because they’re a different race, religion, gender or political leaning from you. The free press is not your enemy. Hate for your fellow human, on the other hand, is.

A lot of us are exhausted from the chaos of the past four years. Excuse us while we do a few happy dances before getting back to work.