6 Steps to Recalibrate Without Giving In

How to live with clarity and purpose in a system designed to confuse and exhaust you.

May 30, 2025

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Dear friends

If my recent protest posts felt heavy, I understand — they landed heavily for me too. Writing them took so much out of me that for a few days afterward, I could barely manage to read more than a short Note at a time. It feels like there’s another “new normal “ to adjust to, and it’s hard to know where to go from here.

I used to think "new normal" meant something you settle into. A steady rhythm after the chaos. Something you adjust to, and then move forward from.

But this isn’t that kind of normal.

Living under an authoritarian-leaning regime — especially one as deliberately chaotic and corrupt as Trump’s — means the ground never stops shifting. The goalposts move. The lies get louder. The outrage piles up. And somewhere in the middle of all that, we’re meant to keep working, paying bills, parenting our kids, walking the dog, staying sane.

So this isn’t about getting used to it. It’s about learning to recalibrate — over and over again.

Not to accept the unacceptable, but to find your footing in unstable terrain. To live with integrity when the system no longer rewards it. To resist — quietly or loudly — in ways that are sustainable. And to mourn, without letting despair calcify into paralysis.

This isn’t just about political resilience. It’s about spiritual survival.

Recalibration Isn’t Giving In

There’s a difference between adjusting your expectations and abandoning your values. Recalibrating means facing reality as it is — not as we wish it was — and choosing how to respond. We don’t have to pretend things are fine. But we do have to keep going.

This moment asks us to be emotionally bilingual: fluent in both grief and clarity. To acknowledge the loss of what we thought democracy meant, while still holding space for what it could yet become — and taking action in service of that possibility. To feel the fear without becoming it. And to recognise that recalibrating is a strength, not a weakness — it’s a sign of an active, living conscience navigating a deeply dishonest landscape.

Start With Your Nervous System

You can’t recalibrate when your body behaves like you’re being chased by a tiger.

Authoritarian regimes thrive on keeping us in survival mode. They want us reactive, disoriented, burnt out. That makes grounding yourself a political act.

Anything that calms your nervous system — diaphragmatic breathing, walks, music, stillness — is not a luxury. It’s the foundation for discernment. It gives you the pause between stimulus and response. And that pause is where strategy is developed.

Even a moment of stillness can be subversive. Taking care of your nervous system isn’t checking out — it’s checking in. It’s what lets you look clearly at what’s happening, without being swept away by it.

This is why my free series “In Uncertain Times, This is Where You Start” is at the heart of Your Time Starts Now. Nervous system care isn’t just a coping tool — it’s the foundation for everything that follows.

Let Grief In — But Don’t Let it Flood the Engine

There is so much to grieve. The dismantling of institutions. The erosion of rights. The betrayal by neighbours, leaders, even family members. Don’t try to block that grief out, because it doesn’t go away. It leaks — through your mood, your energy, your health — seeping into into places you didn’t invite it, and staying there until it’s acknowledged.

So make space for it, give it an outlet. A conversation. A journal. A walk with someone who gets it. Allow grief to move through you, not overcome you. Don’t let it take the driver’s seat.

Grief that moves can become fuel. It can sharpen your focus, deepen your compassion, and make your resistance more human. Suppressed grief, on the other hand, corrodes, and authoritarianism feeds on that corrosion.

Focus on Local Anchors

When the national picture is too big and bleak, when the chaos overwhelms — zoom in. What can you do in your county? Your town? Your neighbourhood?

Local action has always been the foundation of long-term change. And under authoritarianism, it becomes a refuge for democracy. School boards, city councils, mutual aid networks — these are places where your values can still have an impact.

Even small acts of care can restore a sense of agency. When everything feels hijacked from above, grassroots efforts remind us that power can still move horizontally, person to person, block to block.

Make Truth Your Compass

The information landscape is booby-trapped. That’s intentional. Staying informed without becoming misinformed is harder than it’s ever been.

So yes, be mindful of your sources. Cross-check. Pause before you share. But understand this: no amount of fact-checking can substitute for a working inner compass. You need more than accurate headlines — you need orientation.

Orientation isn’t just about data. It’s about direction. And in a disorienting environment, your values are the map. Not what’s trending. Not what polls well. But what aligns with the kind of world you’re trying to create, and the kind of person you’re trying to be.

Ask yourself: What do I know to be true, even though people are saying the opposite? What patterns have I seen them repeat, even when the names and narratives change? And beneath all that — “What still rings true in my gut, even when everything around me feels loud or contradictory?”

Because clarity can’t be outsourced. When propaganda multiplies and noise becomes the norm, the people who stay grounded are the ones who’ve taken the time to root themselves in something deeper than the daily news cycle. Something principled. Steady. Yours.

A strong inner compass may not give you all the answers, but it will help you ask better questions, and know when things are off.

You Don’t Have to Do Everything

You just have to do something.

Recalibration isn’t about being everywhere at once. It’s about learning what your work is, and doing it faithfully. Maybe that’s showing up to city council meetings. Maybe it’s helping your neighbour get groceries. Maybe it’s writing, teaching, fixing, creating spaces for care — or simply staying emotionally present when everything around you encourages detachment.

What matters is that you keep showing up. In small ways. In quiet ways. In consistent, human ways. Show up when it’s easy, and especially when it’s not. That’s what recalibrating to this new normal really means. Not compliance. Not acceptance. Just clarity, resilience, and a refusal to abandon yourself, or each other.

Please remember — even in times like these, not everything is broken.

People are still choosing kindness over cruelty. Truth-tellers, bridge-builders, quiet helpers are still doing the work no one sees. Communities are still looking out for each other. Music still moves us. Laughter can still catch us by surprise. The earth still offers beauty. Nature still steadies us.

That doesn’t erase the grief. But it means there’s more than just the grief.

So take a breath. Find your footing. Because in a world that wants you numb, your presence alone — awake, grounded, and aware — is a form of defiance. And the more of us who stay present, the harder it becomes to erase what we still remember, still value, still believe possible.

And do the next right thing from where you are — not because it fixes everything, but because it keeps you connected to what matters. To your values. To each other. To the world we’re still trying to build.

Our presence here matters. Let’s keep going.

— Lori