Staying Human in a World That Feels Too Much
How we stay steady, humane, and engaged without embodying the chaos.
Many of us are trying to stay awake to the world while also protecting our hearts.
We’re reading the news, listening to each other, and paying attention to what’s happening around us, yet something feels off. The pace is relentless. The tone is harsh. The emotional weight adds up quickly. Even when we want to stay engaged, it can feel like too much.
This isn’t because we don’t care. It’s because we do. We’re human. Our nervous systems weren’t designed to carry this level of intensity day after day. When everything feels urgent and polarized, it’s easy to slip into reactivity, shutdown, or quiet despair. Many of us are asking the same question, sometimes out loud, sometimes silently.
How do we stay humane, hopeful, and engaged without absorbing all the toxicity we’re surrounded by?
That question has been sitting with me for a while now. You too?
Tell me, how are you managing?
Lately, it’s been impossible not to feel all of this deeply. Even, or especially when we just can’t stand feeling all the time.
We’re hearing the stories.
We’re seeing the protests.
We’re witnessing fear, grief, and outrage play out in real time.
Here’s the thing we don’t say to each other enough.
We’re not robots. We’re human.
Our bodies react before our minds catch up. Anger flares. Fear tightens the chest. Confusion settles in. We wonder what to do when peaceful protests are met with force. When people are teargassed, murdered, detained, shoved, silenced, or bused away. When it’s family, friends, or complete strangers.
When harm is physical, emotional, and psychological all at once.
This isn’t abstract. It’s traumatic.
Trauma doesn’t just live “out there.” It lands inside us. In our nervous systems. In our sleep. In how we talk to each other. In how quickly we snap or shut down or scroll past because it’s all too much.
The question isn’t whether we’re affected. We are. The question is how we respond without losing ourselves.
I often think about the letter that Thich Nhat Hanh wrote to Rev Martin Luther King called “In Search of the Enemy of Man” (worth a read in these times too!) Not because there are perfect answers, but because they understood something essential. Change doesn’t start with domination or humiliation or hatred. It starts in the human heart.
That doesn’t mean passivity. It doesn’t mean silence or violence mirrored either.
And it certainly doesn’t mean pretending everything is fine.
It means we pay attention to what we’re carrying before we pass it on.
And hey, how are you?
I sure appreciate that you acknowledge and articulate what’s actually happening, internally and externally, Janet. Thank you.
As you may have noticed over the years, I’ve moved my approach from one of avoidance & denial to questioning everything (and trying to listen for what’s clear for me), to activism of all sorts, and now, I’m moving toward more revolutionary ideology and studies of how commUNITY that embody all power to the people can make an impact for myself, my loved ones, friends, and the greater thing.
Phew - talk about a run-on sentence 😉😳
I am now grounded in wisdom from generations before me and after me. I’m learning and UNlearning how a formerly “nice YT lady” can be grounded in what is, and still hold #ActiveHope. This is my daily work. I refuse to turn away. I’m staring down and shiny light on patriarchal oppression and fascism like never before, shored up by indigenous revolutionaries who have paved paths of resistance for decades.
May we all become ancestors known by our curiosity, willingness to listen, and ACT on behalf of our commUNITIES. This is the way. Thank you for your insights and guidance.