By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Are you as anxiety-riddled as I am, waiting for final unofficial results that declare Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the next president of the United States?

Those of you who are, I want to offer this bit of advice.

Let’s calm down. I keep telling myself that very thing, with little impact on the angst that keeps roiling with my gut.

Election officials in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada and Georgia need to get it right without worrying about getting it out in a hurry. Thus, for them the first priority is to ensure the votes are counted accurately. Am I unsettled because we don’t know yet whether Joe Biden has actually been elected? Sure, I most certainly am unsettled.

Then we have the issue of Donald Trump’s concession. More to the point: He hasn’t conceded. White House aides say he won’t concede. Trump signaled Thursday an utter disdain for the democratic process when he threw out myriad conspiracy theories he said are designed to “steal” the election from him. Indeed, Trump’s disdain extends to our very representative democracy. He lied brazenly, openly and without a shred of shame.

What if he doesn’t concede? What if we approach inauguration day and President-elect Biden prepares to take office and Trump still hasn’t vacated the office. A Biden campaign aide put it well, saying that the “people decide who is the president” and the government has ways of “removing trespassers from the White House.”

We must arc back to the anxiety that builds while we await the final unofficial results. I am just a single American voter, a patriot, someone who loves this country with all my heart. I want a change to occur and I am supremely confident that it will occur.

I just need to practice the advice my head keeps preaching to my heart.

Just be patient, man.