How do you feel when you watch the news? Are you happy about the direction the world is heading in? Are you comfortable with the road our leaders have put us on? Are you confident in your ability to navigate the hazards that are present and on the horizon? If you regularly follow world events, these questions may elicit laughter. You may want to shout “Jesus, take the wheel!” or perhaps just get off the road entirely.
The world seems like an engine with a clogged radiator that’s only getting hotter. The genocide in Gaza, the war in Ukraine, the affordability crisis in Canada, the existential threat of climate change, the assassination of Charlie Kirk… our check engine light is permanently on. How am I supposed to go to class when schoolchildren are being bombed elsewhere in the world? How am I supposed to train for my career when millions of people have had to sacrifice their ambitions to fight in terrible wars? How am I supposed to sleep in my warm, comfortable bed when the homeless and addicted are dying in droves, cold and alone on the street? Life often feels impossibly difficult and cruelly unfair.
I was born with congenital nystagmus. I have low visual acuity in both eyes and as a result I cannot work most jobs. Being born with a disability is hardly fair, but it can happen to anyone. I wasn’t even able to get a driver’s licence until recently, at age 29. I have begun to learn just how much attention and focus is required to operate a vehicle safely. The stakes are high, danger can come from anywhere, and distractions are a constant challenge that require serious attention. I feel this is similar to navigating this world in all its many traffic jams.
At first, safe driving can seem like an impossible task. You must watch for present hazards while planning for future ones. You must remember what the driver’s manual said while watching the road in front of you, beside you, and behind you. Your mind must be in the past, present, and future at the same time. Driving is stressful, and driving safely all the time is something no one is perfect at but everyone who drives must do. With increased urbanization and many more cars on the road, driving safely is much harder now than it was in the past.
Every generation has its own trials to overcome. World wars, plagues that threaten us with extinction, viral pandemics that isolate us and shake our sanity, and a whole host of other threats to humanity have survived. It’s precisely this laundry list of horrors our species has gone through that holds the key to surviving the horrors we now face. We evolved in a world that’s very harsh, and this cruel crucible has granted us an immense capacity for hardship. Because of this history of survival, our brains always perceive threats more intensely than other phenomena. To arrive at our destination safely, we must keep our eyes on the road.
Worry is supposed to drive us toward success, but it often has the opposite effect. It distracts us, drains our batteries, and sends us careening into the ditch. The key to escaping this trap is to focus relentlessly on taking action toward solving the problem. The energy that worry takes from us can be spent on eliminating the cause of that worry. The action doesn’t need to be huge—in fact, just getting on the road is usually the hardest part of the journey.
Taking action is the most important thing you can do to manage stress. Bring everything you have to bear on solving the problems that are causing your stress, and your anxiety just might weaken and fade with time. Remember that you have something to offer, and taking action is how you will deliver your gifts to the world. The causes you strive for and the threats you face demand that you be at your best. The people whose suffering you aim to alleviate do not benefit from your worries and anxieties, but from your actions. Keep your mind on the task, your foot on the gas, and you’ll get where you need to go.