Finding Anchoring Amid the Storm: Navigating Political and Global Anxiety
As we navigate the opening weeks of 2026, the air across our communities feels undeniably heavy. Between the ongoing demonstrations, detainments, and killings south of our border, to the financial strains in our households due to multiple economic factors and uncertainties, many of us are feeling a profound sense of anxiety, distress, anger, and grief.
If you find yourself checking the news at 3:00 AM or feeling a persistent background restlessness, heaviness, or fatigue that is impacting your daily functioning, you are not alone. Research indicates that approximately 39% of Canadians are feeling a high to extreme degree of precarity related to political tensions with our southern neighbour, with another nearly 38% of Canadians feeling as though catastrophe is possible but are holding onto a degree of optimism. When the world feels volatile, our nervous systems respond as if we are under a personal, immediate threat.
We offer here a few grounded strategies to help you protect your mental well-being and remain effective in the areas that are important to you while staying engaged with the world.
1. Curate Your Information Intake
Our brains are designed to be very effective in scanning for threats. This is adaptive and helps keep us alive. In the current era, however, the 24-hour news cycle weaponizes this instinct.
- The 30-Minute Rule: Limit your news consumption to 30 minutes a day, ideally from fact-based, centrist, and diverse Canadian sources.
- No Scrolling Before Sleep: Give your nervous system at least one hour of “analog” time before bed to prevent anxiety and distressing images from infiltrating your sleep.
2. Shrink Your “Circle of Concern”
It is easy to feel paralyzed by global events we cannot control. To combat helplessness, focus on your Circle of Influence.
- Think Globally, Act Locally: If migration policies, economic shifts, or global unrest is causing distress, look for local volunteer opportunities or community groups in your city. Consider local caused for which to donate money or time. Invest your sales dollars locally where possible. Check in on your neighbours to contribute to a sense of community and care. Tangible action is the best antidote to despair.
3. Return to the Body
When anxiety spikes, your prefrontal cortex, or the “logical” part of our brain that moderates the emotional centers of the brain, often goes offline. Many of us have grown accustomed to using intellect to make sense of our circumstances and bring ourselves understanding, insight, and peace, but this is effective only when we are regulated in our bodies. You cannot “think” your way out of a physiological stress response. You must signal safety to your body through somatic techniques.
One of the most effective tools is Box Breathing:
- Inhale for 4 seconds.
- Hold for 4 seconds.
- Exhale for 4 seconds.
- Hold for 4 seconds.
Repeating this for just three cycles can lower your heart rate and remind your nervous system that, in this particular moment, you are safe. Gentle stretching, breathing with longer exhales than inhales, yoga, and meditation are other practices that can cue our body to safety and calm.
4. Reconnect with Your World
Digital spaces often amplify division and fear. Counteract this by intentionally engaging with your physical surroundings and your networks of care. Spend time in nature, share a meal with the people who offer connect, humour, and lightness, and lean into the relationships that ground you. In dark times, when paired with committed action to the causes that are important to us, the refusal to relinquish joy can be an act of resistance.
You don’t have to carry the weight of the world by yourself. If political or global distress is interfering with your ability to work, sleep, or enjoy your life, our team is here to help you process these complex emotions in a non-judgmental space, human to human.
