5 Practical Ways to Cope When Everything Feels Heavy

Photo by Mizuno K

So, 2025 has been a bit (er - a lot!) of a dumpster fire, am I right?

National (and global!) instability is on the rise, unelected private citizens causing chaos in the government, planes falling out of the sky at a rate unheard of in modern times.

The list goes on.  But I need to stop to protect my mental health. 

And yours!

And that’s what this article is about.

It can be hard to make it through the day when it feels like the world is crumbling around you.

Especially if you believe, as I do, that it’s important to stay informed.

I don’t know about you, but to me it feels a bit like we’re all back in the early days of COVID when things were scary, and changing quickly, and it was really hard to get stuff done in your actual life, at your actual job, because there was so much scary stuff happening around you that was, well, existential. 

And we’re back there again.

And yet, you still have to go to work, feed your kids (or pets!), and get through the day.

And because you know I’m all about biasing towards action, I want to provide you with some practical strategies you can use to turn your worry into action and make things just a little bit better for yourself, and hopefully those around you.

So here we go!

• Recognize that you are justified in feeling the way you do, whatever you feel.  

  You’re doing the best you can. Don’t add to your dismay by beating yourself up for feeling your feelings.

• Schedule time to worry

Yes, you heard that right.  Studies show that this weird technique actually works.  In fact, during those early days of the pandemic, I was suggesting this as well, and it was working then, just like it’ll likely work now.

If you worry all day you’ll get nothing done.  You’ll be constantly distracted.  Things will take you longer and you’ll make mistakes.

So schedule the time you need to worry.  Maybe you need 15 minutes a day, maybe less.

And better yet, keep a place (a task, a note, a post-it, a journal) where you can park those worries.  When they enter your head, write them down.  And then when it’s time to worry, take out your list out, review it, add more to it, and give yourself that time to worry.

And if you find that when the worry time rolls around you don't actually need to worry, then don’t worry. 

But at least you set aside the time so that you’d have it if you needed it.

• Turn your worry into action 

There’s an interesting distinction between worry and rumination: worry is future-oriented and therefore can help us to take action.  Rumination is stagnant and past-oriented. And you’ve probably heard me say this before, so say it with me again:

You can’t change the past; you can only move forward.

So, instead of ruminating, see if you can do something. No matter how small.

One easy, free thing you can do, every day, that makes a real difference, is to call your congresspeople and give them your thoughts and demands on the issues happening around you.  

These folks are your representatives; they serve the public.

And you and me? We’re that public!

And it may feel like calling does nothing, but it does.  Every single constituent call is tracked and counted, and our officials do take the will of the people into account when making decisions and taking action.  But in order to do that, they need to know what the will of the people is. 

So let them know.

I use a free app called 5 Calls that makes this really easy: You simply enter your zip code, and it gives you a list of issues you might care about, and then it gives you the phone numbers and a script of what to say, in case you’re not sure what to say. 

Seriously, it’s that easy.

• What about if you just can’t stop worrying all the time?

When you notice a negative pattern or thought, connect with your body for 10 seconds (3 deep focused breaths or listen to the farthest sound you can hear or rub your fingers together and focus on feeling your fingerprints). 

This might help you to snap out of the thought and redirect to something more actionable.

• Limit your news intake to the bare minimum you need to be informed.

  Spend less time on social media if it’s stressing you out.

  Choose your news sources carefully.

  In fact, one of my Time Well Spent Coaching clients told me that he was sourcing his news from “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!” because it was weekly (instead of daily) and it was delivered with a dose of humor. I love this idea!

  I asked my community on LinkedIn about how they were protecting their mental health while staying informed, and they had a few additional suggestions that I’ll share with you here, paraphrased below. (PS, if we’re not connected on LinkedIn, we should be. Feel free to reach out!)

  • “Tangible Interactions - spending much more time in physical spaces with friends, because talking to people in online spaces can leave me feeling very isolated.”

  • Jessica Yellin’s “News Not Noise” Newsletter

  • “Reading headlines from multiple news sources - some that align with my views and some that don’t.”

  • “Picking top 3 issues to care about and taking action, because I can’t commit to everything.”

So, what about you?

Have you got any ideas to share with me and the rest of the “Do More, Stress Less” community?

Please reply and if I get enough additional ideas, I’ll make sure to make another post to share them with you!

To quote (albeit out of context) one of my favorite musical artists of all time, Tracy Chapman:

“Maybe together we can get somewhere”.