When the System Cracks
Lately, things have been feeling a bit on the panicky side. Not just the low hum of existential worry we’ve grown used to, but something a bit sharper in focus. Since the Trump tariffs hit the headlines, conversatons inevitably turn to the mayhem and then “Have you heard what else he’s done?” And he’s not even running of the country I’m living in. It’s like a collective, anxious, holding of the breath.
And fair enough. These aren’t minor disruptions. The moves being made are loud and destabilising, and they reverberate around the globe. A Danish friend told me recently that “it feels like the US is waging war on us”. Even here in Australia, where we haven’t yet seen direct material consequences, the psychological effect is undeniable. The ripple is in the mood, the media, the universal nervous system. The chaos hijacks attention.
This is how systems like this one work—not only by dominating economies and policies, but by seizing imagination and emotional bandwidth. We worry because it matters. But the worrying also keeps us in its orbit. We become caught in a feedback loop of reactivity, fed by headlines and hashtags, shaped by a cycle that thrives on shock and distraction.
So how do we respond when the system cracks?