Coping with Uncertainty & Threat
Rough Start to 2025
Holy shoot, I knew 2025 was going to be bumpy, but I'd say many are finding it even rougher than anticipated. 😩 (Humour on that, here).
Whether you're attuned to threats to democracy, human rights, the risk of avian flu (more, here and here) or hardships in your own life, it's a deeply unsettling and uncertain time.
Tectonic shifts in fundamental global values and world order feel afoot - and many of us are profoundly concerned about what Trump stands for and represents.
Lately, in my sphere, I notice Canadian grocery stores plastered with maple leaves in response to tariffs, patriotic memes popping up, and layoffs escalating. I feel wobbles and reverberations in my clients' lives, my business, and my inner life.
I know I'm not alone in trying to orient myself to a rapidly changing political landscape and an economic market that seems to be freezing up or contracting.
Recent boosts that are helping me? Books. Nature. Friends. Puzzling. (Even if you're not a puzzler, I swear, turning a little pile of chaos into order is soothing and provides antidotal magic right now. ✨ #recommend)
Chronic uncertainty has me thinking about how we're reacting to the times. 🤔
On Flooding, Freezing, Fleeing or Flowing:
This past roller coaster of a week (following the US-Canada trade war alone is dizzying!) got me thinking about our brains, stress and anxiety.
We're wired to thrive with a mix of steadying predictability and enlivening novelty.
Too little change? We often feel deadened, stuck, languishing or stagnant.
Too much change? It's chaotic, destabilizing and overwhelming.
Many of us are experiencing the latter. If we pay attention, we can empower ourselves and learn how our unique brain and nervous systems tend to react to those circumstances. With awareness, we can resource ourselves to respond in ways that are conscious, creative and intentional.
Lately, how do you feel:
Flooded: distraught, hypervigilant, fearful or angry (doomscrolling much?)
Frozen: numb, lethargic, uncertain, fuzzy, heavy or down
Fleeing: denial, disengagement (avoiding the news all together?)
Flowing: awake, alert, agile, grounded, calm and creative
You might relate to one of these states or toggle between a few. (I vacillate between flooded and flowing these days! 🙋♀️)
Drawing on the Window of Tolerance framework, we can gain more understanding of and compassion for our habitual, embodied stress response patterns. With awareness and practice, we can influence our state - and ultimately even shape our traits.
That is, there are lots of ways we can regulate our nervous systems and nurture flow - so that we can better: bravely confront reality, tolerate stress and access creative response... even in challenging conditions.
I've been coaching clients for almost two decades as they navigate significant thresholds. I know a lot about guiding people through upheaval and transitions, as they cultivate clarity and courage to nurture new realities.
Right now, I'm reflecting on how I can evolve my services or better meet the needs of our times as we are collectively in the throes of radical change, facing significant threats and opportunities on the horizon.
I stand for transformation - individual and collective - that is conscious, mature and values-aligned. I want societies that are caring, generous and invested in mutuality, interdependence and a livable future.
I'm cheering on less freezing, fleeing or flooding - and more flowing. 🌊
Action is an Antidote to Anxiety:
You may have heard the idea that ‘action is an antidote to anxiety.’ So, if uncertainty and threat evoke anxiety, then it can be wise to learn how to move into action, rather than spinning out into worry and overthinking.
However, I observe that our state of being has a profound impact on the quality of action we take. That is, if we’re frozen, it may feel almost impossible to step into action, and if we’re fleeing or flooding, there’s a good chance that we’ll take action from an impulsive, reactive, emotionally-charged state. Those don’t tend to be the states from which we make our best or most thoughtful moves.
When we’re flowing (regulated), we can access the entirety of our brain and mature inner resources. But if we’re stuck in a stress or trauma response - frozen, fleeing or flooding - we’re oriented to protection, and our view becomes contracted. We literally can’t access our integrated intelligence and creativity. We may even take action that digs us deeper into an unhelpful pattern, rather than tapping into curiosity that could enable us to innovate or discover transcendent ways forward.
Taking action - any action - may move us out of feeling helpless, which is really important - often liberating. But when we have more tools, means and supportive relationships to help us cultivate flow, we’ll likely find that we can take action more easily and with more skilfulness.
I believe that our state of being has an impact on our capacity to imagine, let alone to take action.
Learning to recognize and influence whether we’re flowing, flooding, freezing, and fleeing is deeply valuable, at any time… but maybe especially when the world around us is turbulent, with an abundance of uncertainty and threat to knock us off balance.
If you want space and support to process what is happening in our world right now - and how painful or shocking experiences are landing in your psyche and body - please join me on March 19th or 25th (2025) for a Community Support Circle.
Join me to feel uplifted, inspired and more resourced. In the midst of collective harm, collective resilience is crucial. If you don’t feel like it? Well, that might even be a signal of how much you could benefit from it. ;)
If you want to soothe your nervous system and frayed mind or emotions on your own, I recommend this guidance from Martha Beck. I recently walked myself through this process when I was flooded with a wave of anxiety and discouragement, and I felt so lightened on the other side. Grab a pen and paper, and get ready to immerse yourself in kindness - and experience release and relief.
If you want to be with a trauma-informed coach and a sweet virtual crew of good humans to do some of this resourcing work in community, hope to see you at a Community Support Circle soon.
Wishing you flow during these challenging times. If you want one, I’m sending you a hug!
P.S. If you’re curious about how 1:1 coaching might help you navigate a challenging chapter, please set up a free 60-minute consult with me. I’d love to help you feel resourced and keep your hand on the rudder of your life, especially when the seas are stormy. XO
Nicola Holmes is a Change & Transition Coach who helps people turn their potent questions, dreams and goals into inspired action. With warmth and wisdom, she’ll guide you to untangle constraints and cultivate courage to create a more aligned and joyful life. She has a BASc in Human Development, an MEd in Adult Learning and spent two decades working in the non-profit sector. Along with coaching for 17 years, she’s a mama to two spirited kids and supported by Buddhism. Having recently experienced Long-Covid and a move, she brings empathy to others exploring how they’ve changed and who they’re becoming in turbulent times. Check out Nicola at @nicolaholmescoach or join the email party for encouragement to fuel the changes you want.