Surviving the Snow Globe: Practicing Mindfulness in a World That Won’t Stop Shaking

This past week felt like the world was determined to remind us just how fragile it can be.

💔 A school shooting in my home state of Colorado.

💔 Political violence on a university campus.

💔 Rising conflict overseas.

💔 An economy that feels like it’s losing its footing.

And somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, I’m supposed to live my everyday life. Teach classes. Answer emails. Get groceries. Remember where I parked my car.

It feels like living inside a snow globe that’s being constantly shaken—by tragedy, by headlines, by responsibilities that never stop multiplying. And it’s exhausting.

When the Noise Becomes Normal

The problem with constant chaos is that eventually, it starts to feel normal.

We adapt. We learn to scroll through devastating news while eating lunch at our desks. We normalize stress levels that our bodies were never designed to endure.

And in the corporate world? That adaptation was rewarded.

I read the recent Workday report titled “Stalled Career Growth is Driving Top Talent to Quit” and couldn’t help but nod along. People are burned out, stuck in stalled careers, and feeling less supported than ever. According to the report, nearly 1 in 3 employees say they don’t see a future for themselves at their current company, and a majority report that their career growth has flatlined.

I lived that. I was praised for producing under pressure, for pushing through when the snow globe shook the hardest.

But inside, I was breaking.

The Spirit Work of Mindfulness

Walking away from that world wasn’t just about saving my health or my marriage. It was about reclaiming my spirit—the part of me that had been silenced under layers of busyness, ambition, and noise.

Mindfulness, for me, has been less about meditation cushions and more about survival. It’s the practice of asking:

Where am I right now?

What do I need in this moment?

What’s mine to carry, and what can I set down? (think about this one carefully, you'll be shocked at the answers you find...)

When the world shakes our snow globe, mindfulness is what helps me remember: I can’t stop the shaking, but I can choose how I ground myself inside of it.

How to Ground Yourself When Everything Shakes

If you’ve been feeling like life won’t stop spinning, here are a few practices that have helped me reconnect with my spirit:

✨ Breathe on purpose. Stop scrolling, close your eyes, and perform a Box Breathing technique. Inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale out your mouth for 6, pause, and do that again three more times. It’s simple, but it reminds your nervous system that you’re actually safe in that moment.

✨ Touch something real. Put your hands on the floor, hug a friend, pet your fur baby, or step outside barefoot in the grass. Ground your body so your mind can follow.

✨ Name what you need. Out loud! Whether it’s rest, connection, or quiet. Saying it makes it real.

✨ Limit the scroll. Staying informed is important. Staying consumed is not. Notice when you’re reading the same news ten times in a row. That’s the snow globe shaking, stop scrolling, and the snow globe will settle.

✨ Reclaim joy. Do something small and silly—something your younger self would cheer for. I promise you, joy is medicine.

Spirit, Not Survival

We can’t control the chaos of the world—or even the chaos of our calendars. But we can practice being fully alive inside of it.

That, to me, is the essence of spirit: remembering we are more than productivity, more than performance, more than the headlines trying to keep us in fear.

Corporate America taught me to survive in the snow globe. Pilates, mindfulness, and this new chapter of my life have taught me something else:

I don’t want to just survive.

I want to breathe (easier).

I want to feel (things other than anxiety).

I want to live (a peaceful life).

And I want that for you, too. 💛