Okay, hi guys. It is January 16th, 2026, and I think a lot of us are feeling really worn out, exhausted, overwhelmed, and anxious about where we are right now as a country, especially after what we're seeing in Minnesota with the ice raids, which aren't like anything we've ever seen before in recent history um with the violent abduction of people of course shooting of protesters which we talked about last week um and yeah just yeah it's crazy the it's crazy what they're doing there and it's completely un-american and um we need to do something about it and so in this episode and everyone needs to be fucking raging angry over this and especially if you are a white woman or white man in this time like it's more on you than anyone else to take the baton and speak up for those less privileged because you know like I said last week like we're rebranding this this podcast creating in chaos right because that is my core belief the principle is that whatever chaos is going on in the world that we have to center ourselves and keep creating keep making art keep doing our thing and being creative whatever that outlet is but also we can't ignore what's going on outside right so we have to find that balance of paying attention making a difference and then running our lives right making our art or continuing to create in the way that fulfills our soul. But if we just keep creating and block everything else out, that, in my opinion, is not the right way to be or the right way to live in this moment. It's a critical moment right now. It's a critical moment in this country for our freedoms, for our freedoms, for our human rights. And it's really heartening to see all the protesters in Minnesota specifically still going strong and putting their bodies on the line and their lives on the line to protect their communities, to protect their neighbors. It's so heartening to see that. And also what we're seeing is a complete public narrative shift, public opinion shift, excuse me, where the majority of Americans now disapprove of ICE and almost 50% of Americans support defunding ICE completely, which is a huge swing, huge swing since before this got really bad. So anyways, that part to say that there's hope and definitely hope is not lost, but it's not a moment to check out. So what I wanted to talk about today is how do we, like think, well, how do we keep creating in chaos, right? That's like the theme throughout. But then specifically like some things that are helping me, some things that are helping me cope, process and understand the moment. So first of all, it's really loud if we keep scrolling, right? Like we've got to put down our news feeds. We've got to put down social media and actually just contain it to certain times of the day. And I know easier said than done. But if you're hearing me now, like this is the year you really need to get that going, get that practice going for you. because we won't be able to survive. We won't be effective. They want us overwhelmed, exhausted, and unable to do anything, right? We have got to take care of our mental health We cannot needlessly endlessly scroll and see violent video after traumatic event after horrific situation over and over again and expect to function normally right that robs us of any ability we have to make real impact and any ability we have to maintain our emotional regulation so that we can actually clear clearly think and make a difference and create what we actually want, which is a more beautiful world, right? So one thing that's really helping me and is I've installed this program called Opal on my phone, which actually like literally turns off social media at, for certain periods whenever I ask it to. And yes, I find myself still clicking to open Instagram and that's my main platform of choice, but it'll pop up saying, you know, not available and then I can bypass it but I try really hard not to bypass it and it really helps um and if like if you don't have to be on social media like for work why like I think now's the time to literally say to yourself like go on like once a day maybe or find journalists that you actually respect I'll give you the historian Heather Cox Richardson is one to follow um that puts things in context so we're not just constantly freaking out but we're seeing where we are now in American history in context of the broader uh timeline of our country um and and she does do some political analysis as well so that's a really good follow but follow select accounts that'll help you be informed but not make you overwhelmed another thing is double down triple down quadruple down on your physical fitness like I really think that you know one taking out emotions through like intense workouts helps a ton but also more than that really just like you know pushing our bodies moving our bodies helps our mental health so much and if you like every time this happens to me like I'll if I fall out of my physical routine then like I notice that I'm just so much more mentally stressed. Like it's such an obvious difference. So if you don't have a routine yet of moving your body, at least start going on walks. I mean, walks are like transformative. Like walks are freaking transformative. Start there. Like they will really, really help. So pick, so step number one, pick times that you're going to scroll and that you're going to check social media. Two, pick certain historians or journalists that you're going to decide to follow and then don't clutter your mind with every single traumatic video outside of that. Thirdly, decide there are some people that help us take action during this time, okay? For example, Brian Derrick is one, talking about how to flip Congress, right? Because Congress has a lot to do with what's going on right now. Unfortunately, everything is political right now. like electing in the right members of Congress who don't support funding what ICE is doing right now will innately change the situation we're in, right? So we have a lot of power if we focus on getting people in the right elected offices. We have more power than we think if we work to flip Congress. we also need to be you know calling our senators calling our congressmen because public pressure really works too participating in boycotts participating in like the spotify boycott was blowing my mind like spotify used to be running ads recruitment ads for people to join ice but then so many people were so appalled by that that they canceled their Spotify memberships And now Spotify pulled ICE ads from their platform because money talks right So participate in boycotts when you can. Like, do those things. Call your congressperson. Participate in boycotts. But how do you get aware of these things in the first place? I would really recommend joining your local Indivisible group. Again, it's called indivisible, and they focus on local community action. And so you can really be part of community, feel not alone when you join a group like that. So, okay, so move. Like, right, pick your, narrow down your social media time. Pick your journalists and news sources. Move. Focus on moving your body, pushing your body, lifting heavy weights, whatever feels good for you, but really double down, triple down on that practice during this time. It's so important, right? Um, and then I really think that we all need to be focusing on creating, like create, create something every day, right? Like create something, whatever it is that is in your, um, mode of the creative universe, right? Like, like my gymnastics coach, she was like, I've, I've, I've scheduled in creative time in my week. and I'm like oh cool like I was thinking like what does creative time look like for her like I was like wondering what her outlet was and she was like well I know I mean like like physically like she wants to play in the gym she wants to play it with her body and do cool things and see what she can do on the rings and the bars and with her handstands and like that's so rad right so when I say create something I just mean because we're overwhelmed with consuming all the time and like this little mantra like create before you consume create before you consume create before you consume can really be life-changing it actually was life-changing for me in 2018 I first heard someone say that and I was like oh holy shit like I don't know why but just sometimes you know certain phrases just stick with you and that was one of them that year like create before you consume and I realized that I was spending so much time consuming and not even at that point And it wasn't even at that time, it wasn't even scrolling. It was me like signing up for various courses and doing various programs. I was constantly consuming information, information, information on how to do what I wanted to do instead of actually doing it. Right. And so and now I think it's like news feed, news feed, news feed, horrendous event, tragic story, like blah, blah, blah. And it's just it's overwhelming. Our nervous systems weren't designed to like handle this much information and input like this is crazy. So, you know, somebody asked me the other day who I like, admire and trust. And he was like, well, how come you're not speaking up about what's going on in Iran? Because what's going on in Iran is horrendous, right? They're, I don't know, I know as of a few days ago, it was like complete blackout. They were kidnapping and killing tens of protesters on the street. And I, you know, and I thought, and I said, because there's so much trauma to go around, I literally cannot speak up about everything. Otherwise, I would like die of anxiety. Like, there's just no way we can pay such close attention to every horror that's happening in the world right now, but it's very necessary to pay attention to the horrors that are happening in our backyard, i.e. this country, right? because we think we live in a, we think we live and we want to live in a free society. We want to be able to walk outside, do what we want, not have people come up, question us, kidnap us, throw us in black unmarked vehicles and take us to God knows where. Like these are things that affect everyone in this country. And by the way, they not just coming for brown people or black people They showed us now they coming for anyone who dares to exercise our first amendment rights even you know so like there no there's no world in which we can go on and create our businesses and create our projects and and be writers and be thinkers and be leaders without tapping into what's going on right now. But we have to do it smart and we have to do it strategically. So those are the things that are helping me. I'm doubling down on my physical workouts. I'm literally going to the gym five times a week, lifting heavy weights, focusing on my gymnastics. I have Opal on my phone to turn off my Instagram so I'm not scrolling all day long. I have select journalists that I follow and listen to every day and I focus on creating before I consume so if you can do those four things I think you'll be able to be much more powerful you'll be more effective you'll be the leader that we all need you to be in this moment like we need you we need you in this moment to step into your full potential right like this is what this podcast has always been about whether I was talking about growing a business or you know designing your dream life like however I have framed this throughout the year or two that this podcast has been going on the message has been the same like we need you I need you to step into your full potential as good human thought good thoughtful human beings right on the other end of this podcast conversation that I'm talking to right now whether you're like go whether you're on a walk or driving right now or doing dishes or whatever it is however you're listening to this right now like know that you and your specific talent creativity ideas genius is needed in the world like now more than ever right and I want to see you develop that and offer that to the world so we can fight back on all the horrendous things that are happening while putting out into the world beautiful things and we can be examples of what it could really look like to be able to live in joy and live in beauty and live in creativity and live in acceptance and love. Like these are things that we always will need to fight harder for when things are going wrong, right? Like they're not things we need to shy away from when things are going wrong. They're things that we need to fight harder for, put more momentum in that direction when people are trying to take those things away from us, right? So I love you. I love your art. We need your art. Keep creating. Keep creating amid chaos. And we will get through this. But we need your voice. We need your voice in this moment. We need you to decide how you're going to impact change. We need you to be paying attention to what's going on, figuring out how you're going to be calling your congresspeople, right? I'll put in the show notes here, like, certain people who help us figure out what to do. Like, there's a guy who wrote a book on the Constitution. His name is Ben Sheehan, young guy. I mean, like my age, like, I don't know, like in his 30s or something. And he wrote a book and he has action items like on his social media profile of what to actually do to make a difference. Same with Brian Derrick, who I already mentioned. Same with Elizabeth McLaughlin. She is one who also talks about like taking action, right? There's so much that we can be doing and then or join your local indivisible group. So those are my four tips there. and I will put them in the show notes and I'm sending you so much love and I'm going to try to do this more often like next episode is for sure coming out next Friday but also I think I may try to increase the frequency of these episodes to two to three to maybe five times a week let's see okay lots of love talk soon
