The World is Unhinged, and Capri Pants are Trending

May 29 / Jenn Wooten
It’s Mental Health Awareness Month, and I think it’s safe to say that many of us are extremely aware of our mental health and holding onto it by a thread.

It's clear that we're living in a time when the earth and the humans walking upon it are deeply out of balance. Instead of addressing that imbalance, we are trying to survive the daily onslaught of living, leaving us so consumed by the effort of holding the line that we have no energy left to imagine, let alone build, something better. 

Meanwhile, the climate crisis escalates, the president gets more unhinged, and capri pants are back in style (or insert whatever is trending now). Somehow, we are supposed to care about all of it and maintain our mental health.

It’s a lot for a nervous system.

20th-century Indian spiritual philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti once said, "It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society." And it's here I begin again, talking about how mad the world feels right now, and exploring what our individual role is in navigating it.

And, I don’t think the answer is pretending things are fine, though an occasional dose of sticking our heads in the sand can be healthy. 

But the fact is, our nervous systems are not designed to metabolize a constant stream of global crisis, outrage, grief, uncertainty, comparison, urgency, and information without consequence. The body keeps score of sustained overwhelm, even when we are trying to push through and function normally.

Many of us are spending so much energy just trying to stay afloat that we have very little left for imagination, creativity, repair, or meaningful change. Survival mode narrows us. It makes the future feel smaller. It contracts possibility. 

When I feel lost in all of this and I often do, I often return to one of my earliest teachers, Adyashanti.

I recently listened to a talk where someone asked him:

“What are spiritually awake people called to do right now?”

He said we have to stop operating at a cosmic scale, or we will become crushed under the weight of trying to hold everything all at once. Instead, he suggested asking a much smaller question:

“What could I do to be of benefit today?”

I felt immediate relief hearing that.

Because when I actually look around at people’s lives, I see that many of us are already doing this constantly.

We care for our families. We text our friends back. We listen when someone is struggling. We feed people. We volunteer. We help neighbors. We offer patience when we’re exhausted ourselves. We hold doors open. We stay kind when it would be easier not to.

These things matter.

Not just morally, but biologically.

Research consistently shows that supportive social connection and helping others can reduce stress activation, improve emotional regulation, and positively impact mental health. Human nervous systems regulate in relationship. Care is not extra. It is part of how we survive difficult times.

And this matters because I think many people secretly believe they are failing if they cannot personally fix the enormity of what is happening in the world right now.

But no individual nervous system can carry the weight of the entire planet.That doesn’t mean we stop caring. It means we work at the scale of actual human capacity.

So we can update our pants, overhaul our morning routine, chase a promotion, or plan the perfect trip (this one is my fave), and none of that is wrong. But perhaps the most powerful thing we can do is simply continue showing up for one another. That boosts all of our mental health and changes society.

Resilience is not found in becoming emotionally invulnerable to chaos. It’s found in staying connected to our humanity inside it.

And that is enough to get through the day. And maybe that's enough to build a better world.

Body-Based Support for the Moment You’re In

When the world feels overwhelming, the nervous system often needs something simple, direct, and repeatable. 

One practice I often recommend is Bee Breath, also known as bhramari breathing. Research has shown that bee breath can offer multiple nervous system benefits, including decreased heart rate, improved sleep quality, enhanced autonomic and lung function, and increased heart rate variability (HRV), which is a key marker of the body’s ability to adapt to stress.

In other words, this kind of breath practice can help the body remember how to regulate, even when the world still feels profoundly dysregulated.

Nervous System Support Matters

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, chronically stressed, emotionally exhausted, or disconnected from yourself right now, you are not failing at being human. Your nervous system is responding to sustained pressure and uncertainty in very understandable ways.

Body-based support can help your system find more steadiness, flexibility, and recovery capacity without requiring you to ignore reality or “think positive.”

Our team at Viasomatic is here to support you.

Schedule a free 10-minute consult to learn more: