How to Live with the World’s Chaos

It can feel at times, almost impossible to look at the news. The world seems to carry an endless supply of disasters, crises, and cruelties. To open a newspaper or a phone is to invite a wave of grief or anger — and to wonder how we are meant to carry all of it.

You might sometimes feel guilty for turning away, as though not keeping up with every story is a moral failure. But the truth is that no human being is designed to absorb the pain of the entire planet. Confusion, overwhelm, and even the impulse to retreat are not signs of weakness; they are simply part of what it means to be sensitive, to have a heart that is touched by the suffering of others.

If there is a way through, it is not in demanding that the world calm down — history suggests it never really does. Instead, it may lie in shifting how we respond. Rather than trying to fix or understand everything, we can focus on the smaller and more possible. We cannot solve war or climate change alone, but we can show care to a friend, kindness to a stranger, patience to ourselves. These gestures may look tiny against the vastness of world events, but they are not insignificant: they are ways of keeping humanity alive in the middle of the storm.

There is also permission to create moments of distance. To spend an evening with a book, a piece of music, or a quiet walk, not because you don’t care about the world, but because caring requires replenishment. A sanctuary is not an escape; it’s a place to gather strength.

And perhaps most importantly: when chaos makes us aware of how fragile everything is, we might also remember what a miracle it is. A shared laugh, a meal, a moment of beauty — these are not frivolous distractions but acts of quiet resistance. They remind us that even in a turbulent age, tenderness is still possible.

For further reflection

Film: Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952) — a moving reminder that meaning often comes not from grand gestures, but from small, human acts of care.
Book: Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning — written in the aftermath of the Holocaust, it reflects deeply on how to find purpose even in the most difficult circumstances.
Essay: Rebecca Solnit’s Hope in the Dark — a meditation on how, even in chaotic times, unexpected forms of progress and solidarity emerge.
Article: The School of Life’s own reflections on “Why You Shouldn’t Feel Guilty About Being Happy While the World Suffers” (which gently addresses the tension between private joy and public grief).