How To Remain Calm When Things Become Chaotic

This election has already been intense.  From the debates to the stories, the media has chosen to deliver. Add this to the pandemic issues and restrictions, we have a recipe for chaos! It may feel a little crazy out there, and trust me if you feel like you’re living in chaos, you’re not alone!

Even though things are crazy all around us, threats of more lockdowns, poverty, extreme storms, and the emotions that so many people tie to political leaders, it feels heavy out there. But now, more than ever, it’s time to make sure you stay grounded.  When everything appears to be imploding all around, it’s important to remains in a state of peace and detachment from all we are seeing on the outside.

I am not suggesting this means you should be unaware of what’s happening.  You should be.  It’s one of the best ways to know what could need a boost as far as your preparedness goes.  But to be detached, means your stress levels and emotions remain high and good through and difficult scenario. I know it’s tough right now, but once you start to grab control of your own emotions and learn to let go of all of the chaos, things to get better and calm down.

1. Take Time To Be Alone – We have all probably has plenty of alone time with the quarantines and lockdowns. But being alone doesn’t mean to be upset that you aren’t with others.  It’s a time to reflect, meditate, or pray and figure out how you can live your life free from emotional conflicts. Contemplate how to become the best version of yourself and what you can do to remove the fear of any outcome.  Detach yourself from the expectations of others and learn to be who you are meant to be without attaching emotional responses to any outside situation.
2. Do Something Good For Someone Else – There are a lot of people suffering right now. Many are living in the rips of tyranny, with their freedoms stripped away, some have been impoverished, and others have lost loved ones. If you can alleviate some of the pain of another human being, you will feel a sense of calm. It can be something small, such as paying for groceries of the person in front of you in line. It can be big, such as donating a chunk of money to a charity. It can even be as simple as volunteering at an animal shelter or nursing home.
3. Shift Your Perspective – Part of learning how to be calm in the midst of life’s storm means learning how to let go of our delusional ideals of perfection. We can start to make peace with the things we can neither change nor control in this life (honestly, you cannot control much outside your individual world anyway), so let go. When we let go of our need to experience that perfect outcome (such as our candidate winning an election), we allow ourselves to be who we really are, and in that route, there is true freedom of self and authentic joy.
4. Turn Off Your Phone & TV – spend a few days with the TV off and don’t check your phone religiously. The mainstream media often intentionally uses the most negative news and the most sensational headlines to get you to form some kind of an emotional attachment to the outcome you will perceive to be the one you “need.”  They provide all kinds of chaos! So avoid the fomented chaos. The truth is, you don’t need the media. Honestly, I turned my TV off shortly after the lockdowns started last spring, and I have never felt freer. I have peace and I am calm. I’ll get a “breaking news” story periodically on my phone since I use it as an alarm clock, but I mostly just read the headline, let it sink in, then let it go. By refusing to get attached to things that pop up on the TV or the phone, that you cannot change anyway,  you won’t have an emotional response that will cause stress and worry, and anxiety.
5. Read a Fictional Book – Take a break from life’s chaos by immersing yourself in a book that’s fiction. Choose a genre you like and read just for the pleasure and enjoyment of a story unfolding. I personally love thrillers. When I feel like things are getting crazy, I feel calm knowing that I can take time to go somewhere else completely even though it’s temporary and only in a book.

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If you have been feeling like things outside and around you are chaotic, I hope you can find these tips helpful. Learning to look to yourself for your freedom, health, and happiness instead of putting it on other outside forces will help you detach from all outcomes and remain calm if things get even crazier in the coming weeks or months.