When the World Feels Too Loud: Finding Steadiness in the Noise
- Kinerette Martin
- Nov 6
- 3 min read
You don’t have to look far to find a reason to tense up lately.
War. Elections. Climate disasters.
Headlines that feel like countdowns.
Comment sections that read like battlefields.
And even if you’ve sworn off the doomscroll, the anxiety still seeps in - through conversations, podcasts, that one co-worker who keeps saying, “Did you see what just happened?”
It’s exhausting.
Not just mentally, but physically.
Your heart rate spikes even before you open your news app.
You wake up feeling like you’ve already run a marathon.
The smallest things - a delayed text, a grocery price, a coworker’s tone - feel heavier than they used to.
Many people tell me they feel stuck between two extremes: either flooded by everything happening in the world, or numb to it all.
It’s no wonder.
We were never built for a constant barrage of crisis.
Our nervous systems evolved to handle moments of threat - short bursts that required quick action - followed by recovery.
We weren’t built for months or years of chronic tension with no clear endpoint, for “breaking news” that never stops breaking.
When that stress becomes constant, the body loses track of what safety feels like.
It forgets how to come down.
You’re not broken. You’re overwhelmed by too much noise.
The good news?
You can retrain your body and mind to find steadiness again - even while the noise continues.
Calm isn’t a personality trait.
It’s a practice.
Below are a few simple ways to help your system settle, even when the world refuses to.
They won’t change what’s happening out there, but they’ll help you stay connected to something steady in here.
3 Simple Tools for an Overloaded Nervous System
1️⃣ The “Name 3 Things” Reset
When you feel the spiral start - name aloud:
3 things you can see
3 things you can hear
3 things you can feel (your breath, your feet, the warmth of your hands)
Each time you do this, you remind your brain that you are here, not in tomorrow’s catastrophe.
It’s a circuit breaker for anxious thoughts.
2️⃣ The Weighted Exhale
Inhale slowly through your nose for a count of 4.
Exhale through your mouth for 8, imagining the air flowing down through your body and into the ground.
Picture the weight leaving your shoulders with each breath.
Long exhales activate the body’s calming system: your built-in antidote to panic.
3️⃣ The “Reconnection Choice”
When anxiety makes you freeze or scroll endlessly, choose one small action that reconnects you with life instead of fear.
That might mean:
Calling a friend just to talk about something real
Writing to your local representative about one issue that matters to you
Stepping outside to feel the wind or do a few slow Tai Chi or QiGong movements
Volunteering an hour somewhere that restores your sense of purpose
The goal isn’t to “fix the world.”It’s to remind your nervous system that you are still an active, connected participant in it —not just a spectator to chaos.
Relief doesn’t come from ignoring what’s happening.
It comes from remembering that you still have agency inside it.
You can’t control the headlines.
But you can control the state you meet them in.
That’s what the Holding Steady program teaches - how to stay grounded, calm, and clear even when the world feels unsteady.
In this 4-week, in-person experience, you’ll learn to:
🌿 Interrupt anxiety spirals before they hijack your focus.
🌿 Reclaim your energy and attention from things you can’t control.
🌿 Rebuild confidence and clarity even when the world feels unpredictable.
🌿 Create daily rituals that help you return to center - again and again.
If you’re tired of feeling spun-out by the state of the world, and you’re ready to feel steady from the inside out —this is your invitation.
👉 Join Holding Steady: Register here
Because the world may stay loud for a while.
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