I am fairly certain, if you are drawn to this essay, this is not the world you would have chosen to live in altogether.
Not the one where rights depend on the moods of courts, where survival feels conditional, where entire communities wake up uncertain if today will bring another restriction, another loss. This is not a world built on security or dignity.
And when the world is not safe, the body knows.
It registers instability before the mind does. The shoulders tense, the breath shortens, the stomach tightens. The nervous system scans the environment, asking: Where is the threat? What do I need to do to stay safe? The mind races for solutions, for an exit, for something to push against.
And what happens when the threat is not a single moment, but the whole system? When there is no one door to lock, no single enemy to outrun? When the instability is woven into the structure you live in? The nervous system does not know the difference. It stays alert. It keeps the body ready—always.
And that exhaustion—of always being ready—is not weakness. It is a survival response. But a body in survival mode does not plan. It does not create. It reacts.
This is how oppression works—not just through force, but through the careful construction of control. A system that keeps people exhausted, isolated, dependent, fearful. A system that teaches people to police themselves so that even when the immediate threat is gone, the reaction remains.
It is designed.
Control of the Narrative: If those in power can dictate what is real and what is not, they can control how people think and what they believe is possible. When history is rewritten—when racial and social justice education is banned, when genocide is framed as self-defense—the goal is not just to suppress truth but to make alternative realities impossible to imagine.
Isolation: Deporting asylum seekers to Guantanamo Bay and unsafe South American countries does not just remove individuals; it sends a message: You are alone. No one will come for you. The erasure of entire populations in Gaza, politically endorsed and funded, serves the same purpose. Isolation breaks resistance before it begins.
Economic Dependency: The attempted dismantling of the Federal Payment System has left millions uncertain of their financial future, dependent on inconsistent, state-controlled systems. When survival itself is tied to obedience, when protest might mean losing access to food, shelter, or medical care, how free is anyone, really?
Fear and Punishment: Immigration raids, expanded surveillance, arrests for dissent—these are not just policies. They are signals. Step out of line, and this will happen to you. Fear is a leash, invisible but binding.
Internalization: The most effective oppression does not require constant force. It teaches people to stay small on their own. It convinces them that their rights are privileges, their dignity conditional, their power nonexistent. Over time, they stop needing to be silenced—they do it themselves.
And for you to change how you feel, I need you to see what that means.
Because a world built only on reaction is not a world that moves forward.
Yes, there is this old, familiar answer: Brace against, fight back. Resist. Tear down what harms. I have lived in that place. It feels like movement. Yet resistance alone is not a direction. It’s stagnation. No movement was ever built on against. It was always built on toward.
Every right that exists in the U.S. today was fought for—not given, not granted, but forced into being by people who knew what they were building. They were not asking for a slightly better version of what already existed. They had a vision.
So I will not ask you: What are you against? You already know that.
I will ask you:
What are you for?
The Nervous System in an Unstable World
When everything shifts around you, the nervous system does what it was designed to do: protect. It is not an intellectual process. It is deep, automatic. It does not ask, What is the whole picture? It asks, Where is the danger?
It chooses from a set of ancient responses:
Fight – Push back, argue, refuse, confront.
Flight – Leave, disengage, avoid, outrun the threat.
Freeze – Shut down, dissociate, go numb, wait for danger to pass.
Fawn – Appease, comply, adjust, try to blend in and stay safe.
None of these are conscious choices. They happen before conscious thought. Before words. Before analysis.
This is why news updates can spike anxiety before you even know why. Why a law passed in another state or by federal government makes your stomach sink, even if it does not affect you today.
The body does not separate immediate threat from anticipated threat—it just reacts.
So please don’t berate yourself for reacting.
And that reaction shapes action.
A body locked in fight will resist everything, even help.
A body stuck in flight will disengage, even from what it needs.
A body in freeze will see no options, no escape, even when they exist.
A body in fawn will prioritize keeping the peace, even at the cost of personal truth.
And clarity breaks the loop.
What is Actually Happening to You Right Now?
Policies change. Executive Orders (EOs) appear. At the moment many things shift immediately. Some don’t. Some create an atmosphere of fear without reaching into daily life. Some do.
What is happening to you, right now? Ask yourself with honesty….
Economically: Has your income changed? Your access to what you need? If so, by how much? By what mechanism?
Legally: Are you under new legal restrictions? Do they affect your ability to move, work, express, connect? How directly?
Socially: Has your environment shifted? Are you physically unsafe? Are you surrounded by people who support you?
The nervous system reacts to possibility as if it is certainty.
This is not about dismissing concern.
It is about sorting what is happening from what the body fears will happen next. Because decisions made in fear alone are almost always reactive, not strategic.
And we need strategy.
Do You Know Your Own Power?
Not in theory. Not as a metaphor. Right now. In your actual life.
If your environment is already unsafe, what options do you have?
If the laws in your state have shifted in ways that limit your ability to live freely, can you leave?
If the place where you live is not aligned with what you value, is there another place that is?
Do not discard the answer to those questions just because it is not available to you right now. That is not the point. Explore possibilities, open up potentialities and most of all, be curious, where your mind is going to take you. A dream, a castle in the air maybe. Maybe not.
There is always choice. It is not always an easy choice. It is not always a fair choice. But not looking is still a choice.
If leaving is not the right move, then what is? Be creative!
Who do you surround yourself with?
Who do you build with?
What do you do with your time, your energy, your attention?
What story do you tell yourself about what is possible?
Who might shelter you if necessary?
Where could you escape to?
Whom to you deem truly safe spaces?
Cultivate those!
This is where trauma, survival mode, and long-term stress can cloud perception. Because when the nervous system is caught in a chronic fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response, it does not see choice—it sees inevitability.
Not in theory. Not as a metaphor. Right now. In your actual life.
And when your body feels the pull back into fear, back into nothing is possible, this is where the somatic work begins.
Grounding – Feel your feet on the floor. Notice what is actually here.
Breath – Longer exhales. A pause before the next inhale. A reminder to the body that breath is still here.
Orientation – Look around. What is physically present? What is not happening right now?
Self-Check – What options exist in this moment? What can be done?
The mind may say: this is too small to matter. It is not. Every moment of steadiness creates enough space to think, to decide, to move.
The Somatic Path Back to Power
When your body feels the pull back into fear, back into nothing is possible, this is where the work begins.
Not the work of dismantling systems—that comes later. Not the work of policy change—that comes later.
The work of being able to see your own choices.
Because without nervous system regulation, there is no clarity. And without clarity, every action is reaction.
Somatic word consists in it’s basic form of Breath Work, Grounding, Orientation and Self-Check.
Breath: What Is Still Here?
Exhale longer than you inhale. A slow, steady release.
Pause before the next breath. Give the body a moment of space.
Notice the air moving in and out. Remind your body: I am still here.
Breath is the first thing survival mode takes and the first thing we can take back.
Grounding: Where Are You Right Now?
Feel your feet on the floor. Notice the weight of your body.
Press your hands against a surface. Feel texture, pressure, contact.
Notice three solid objects in the space around you.
The nervous system anchors when the body senses connection with the present.
Orientation: What Is Not Happening Right Now?
Look around the space you are in. What is physically present?
Remind yourself: This is this moment.
Say it out loud if you need to: I am here. Right now, I am here.
Orientation interrupts the loop of fear-based prediction.
Self-Check: What Options Exist in This Moment?
What is one thing I can do today? (Not a full plan—just one thing.)
What support exists that I have not reached for?
What is one place where I still have agency?
And when the mind says: this is too small to matter, it is wrong.
Because every moment of steadiness creates enough space to think, to decide, to move.
From Regulation to Action
Somatic regulation is not a substitute for action. It is what makes strategic action possible.
From a regulated place, you can:
Assess your actual conditions. Not fear, not projection—your actual reality.
Decide whether to stay or leave with clarity, not panic.
Engage in organizing without burning out.
Support others without absorbing their trauma as your own.
And most of all, you can begin to imagine beyond reaction.
Because no movement has ever been built only on what it was against.
It was built on what it was for.
And this is where your power lies. Not in what you oppose—but in what you create.
So I will ask you, again:
What are you for?
Because that—more than anything else—will shape what happens next.
The World I envision to live in.
I envision a world rooted in safety, dignity, and belonging, where care is fundamental and every person thrives. A world where systems serve people, not the other way around. Where creativity, connection, and rest are valued, and education inspires curiosity. Where health and well-being are shared priorities, and kindness shapes society.
This world flourishes through self-determination, shared power, and inherent dignity. Equity, diversity, and inclusion are not decorative words—they form the foundation of collective well-being. Joy is abundant, generosity flows, and harmony prevails.
Kindness and compassion are not personal virtues—they shape the structures we live in. Joy for the fortune of others comes naturally. Equanimity is a given.
If the old system was never built for this, then maybe its collapse isn’t just a loss. It’s an opportunity.
Enough people choosing to look forward instead of back could make all the difference.
What if, instead of restoring something broken, you built something that couldn’t be dismantled so easily?
And now, I ask you:
What are you for?
I am glad walking beside you on this journey. Please stay safe. Jay
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