From Chaos to Calm: Staying Present Through Life's Stress

It’s easy to get overwhelmed in life. Whether you’ve experienced trauma or not, it’s going to happen. But when you’ve been through trauma, even the smallest things can feel overwhelming. You may feel helpless, like you’ll never figure it out or get through your situation.

For a long time, I would constantly play the worst-case scenario in my mind. Right now, I have a lot going on, I’m buying and selling a house and making another big move with my family. Yes, I’ve done this many times in the Navy, but every move feels like starting all over again (if it wasn’t for my wife, these moves would be so much worse, she’s the architect and magician when it comes to moving).

The difference now is that as I heal from trauma, I’ve gotten better at handling these situations. It always comes back to one thing: staying in the present and focusing on what I can get done today.

When you think about everything at once, you’ll stay overwhelmed and immobilized. But if you come back to the present and focus only on what you can control, it becomes manageable. One of the best tools I’ve found is making a list. Each night, I write down what needs to be done the next day, and then I just focus on that list. That’s it.

The truth is most of the things I used to worry about never even happened. Things often worked out better than I expected, and I wasted so much time stuck in worry and anxiety for nothing.

So, here’s my reminder: you can’t control the future, but you can control what’s in front of you today. Make your list, focus on it, and when your mind drifts into worry, gently bring it back to the present.

And here’s a little trick, if you’ve already completed something, add it to your list anyway and then cross it off. It sounds small, but that little sense of accomplishment can give you a burst of motivation.

Remember, the future is unknown. The present is where your power is. Focus on what you can control right now.

Reflection Question: What’s one thing you’ve already overcome that you thought you couldn’t?

Stay positive and take action!

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