24 Counterintuitive Ways to Stay Sane When Everything’s on Fire

Photo by Emilio Guzman on Unsplash

Trump 2.0 era is wild. Trade wars. End of regular diplomacy. Bullying and deal-making. Tariff wars. Stock market crashes. Crypto collapse. Wars.

The world seems to be collapsing in real-time, and so are we.

Something has to change. We cannot shape the world (beyond our control), but how we function within it.

What follows is 24 principles or strategies. Each of these principles was derived by a deep dive into behavioral psychology, ancient philosophies, and conversations with people who maintain equilibrium in chaos — ER doctors, war correspondents, and parents of multiple toddlers (the true masters of crisis management).

I discovered that conventional self-care advice — “just meditate” or “practice gratitude” — often falls flat when reality is truly overwhelming.

Instead, I found counterintuitive approaches that worked when traditional wisdom failed.

These strategies are about developing a relationship with uncertainty that does not require constant emotional emergency response.

Using these 24 strategies, you can transition from perpetual panic to functional calm, even as headlines grow more alarming.