Self-Care Amid Chaos

Are you feeling overwhelmed at times? Feeling down and even sad can be a normal response to what is going on in the world. What you’re feeling makes sense. When someone has a strong sense of human, animal, and environmental rights and a loving heart, witnessing abuse of power can feel emotionally and even physically heavy. Nothing is wrong with you for feeling this way. However, allowing things outside yourself to incapacitate you doesn’t help, and it also limits the capacity to love, think clearly, act constructively, and show up with steadiness and compassion–taking you out of being a loving, positive energy or light in the world when you and your light are needed most.

Self-care and activities that bring joy aren’t acts of avoidance–they enable us to love more fully and stay engaged and balanced in ways that make a difference.

Here are eight self-care activities that I (and others) have found to be very helpful.

BREATHE

In the moment, pause. Take a slow, deep breath. Exhale slowly. Repeat two or three times.

REDUCE YOUR EXPOSURE TO THE NEWS

And pick news media (written and with audio features) that fact-check all of their reporting. I recommend The Guardian (free, donations keep it going) for U.S. and international news (and AP, ProPublica, NYT, among others). Avoid 24/7 news channels of any kind. Limit your exposure, if you can, to 10 minutes of reading just headlines per day.

SHRINK THE LENS (ON PURPOSE)

The human nervous system isn’t designed to hold the chaos of the whole world. Try intentionally shifting from global overwhelm to local presence.

• A person you love

• A small act of love or kindness (or two or three)

• A place in nature that feeds you and is healing for you (it can just be a walk outside in your neighborhood if that is the most accessible)

This isn’t denial—it’s creating a cognitive balance and accessing your heart and spirit.

YOUR WAY OF BEING IS YOUR POWER

Abuse of power thrives on the illusion that love and conscience don’t matter. History shows the opposite. Every authoritarian moment eventually fractures under clarity, courage, and solidarity—often quietly before it breaks publicly.

Your way of being—your Love, your steadiness is active energy, and that presence does make a difference.

CONVERT GRIEF INTO DIRECTED LOVE

Unprocessed grief turns into despair. Directed Love turns into strength.

• Light a candle for places or people that weigh on your heart

• Say a short prayer, intention, or blessing (even just: “May love transform this for the highest good of all”)

• Then consciously release it back to the universe

You don’t have to carry it to care.

BALANCE THE INPUT

For every piece of concerning news, intentionally add one of these:

• Read good news stories of positive change based in love, compassion, courage, or kindness. Some great places to find good news are https://www.goodgoodgood.co, https://positive.news

• Spend some time with animals, art, music, beauty, or nature

• Laugh! (even silly, meaningless laughter counts!)

• Keep a gratitude or joy journal (write entries every day)

Your spirit, mind and body needs evidence that love is still moving—because it IS.

STAY CLOSE TO WHAT REMINDS YOU OF WHO AND WHAT YOU ARE

If you are drawn to read this post, you most likely are nourished by:

• Spiritual connection

• Beauty and creation energy

• Community rooted in love rather than fear

These aren’t escapes. They are refueling stations.

GIVE GRACE

Abuse of power looks loud right now because it’s afraid. Love doesn’t need to shout to be real. It’s patient. It outlasts. It always has.

You are part of that longer arc.

• Listen–sometimes that is all that is needed of you

• Out in the world (or at home), say something that lets the other person know they are seen and appreciated. Give recognition. A genuine, authentic compliment or gratitude for something they have done can make a huge difference in someone’s day

• Share uplifting, current good news (human rights, animals, quiet acts of courage) with others

• Casually offer (ask first) a short grounding or heart-centering practice that

  works for you, if the other seems open to it

• Share (ask first) one of your  “when the world feels too much” activities that brings you into a more positive, balanced place, if the other seems open to it

© Copyright 2026, Mary Claire O’Neal

Author of the award-winning book, Becoming What You Want to See in the World