But The World Feels Heavier Than It Has In a Long Time, Doesn't It?
Let's talk about what's really going on.
Every headline confirms something else is going wrong.
Tariffs. Government Shutdown. Inflation. Layoffs. Division is everywhere.
You scroll your feed and it's just wave after wave of negativity before the day even starts.
And beneath it all, there's this quiet, persistent fear:
What if it never gets better? What if the next shoe is about to drop?
It's absolutely exhausting trying to stay positive in a culture that profits off your fear.
So maybe you've thought something like
- "How can I even think about my dreams when I'm just trying to survive right now?"
- "In this season, I need to hunker down and protect myself."
- "What if the world really is falling apart?"
If that's where you are, I see you. You are not broken. Your brain is actually doing exactly what it's biologically programmed to do.
Your survival brain - the ancient part that kept your ancestors alive in the Ice Age - is reading the headlines, the social media doom-scrolling, the financial fluctuations... and it's screaming:
"DANGER! THREAT! SHUT DOWN NON-ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS!"
It's treating your dream of building a six-figure business the same way it would treat a saber-toothed tiger.
Your brain is wired to think you're in survival mode.
So it floods you with cortisol, narrows your focus to immediate threats, and convinces you that:
- Now is not the time to invest in yourself
- You should wait until things "settle down"
- Playing it safe is the smartest choice
Your brain isn't wrong to do this.
It's literally doing its job - protecting you.
When your ancestors faced real threats (famine, predators, war), the ones who survived were the ones who conserved resources, avoided risks, and focused on immediate survival.
Your brain is running that exact same program right now.
Except... you're not facing a saber-toothed tiger.
You're facing headlines about threats. You're facing predictions about what might happen. You're quite literally facing other people's fear being broadcast directly to your pocket 24/7.
And here's the kicker:
Your survival brain can't tell the difference between a real threat and a perceived threat.
And when your brain is in survival mode, it shuts down your:
- ability to think long-term
- creativity and problem solving
- willingness to take calculated risks
- capacity to dream bigger
This is why you feel so stuck.
Not because the world is falling apart. But because your brain is wired to think it is.
Now here's what average people do when they're in this state:
They start living in blame - pointing fingers at the economy, the government, or their circumstances.
"If only the economy were better, THEN I could invest in myself."
They start living in fear - shrinking their dreams, playing it safe, waiting for conditions to "be right."
"I'll wait until things settle down before I make any big moves."
They start living in worry - spending all their mental energy predicting disasters that haven't happened.
"What if I start a business and we go into another recession!?"
And I get it. It feels rational, like wisdom.
But it's just your survival brain hijacking your decision-making.
And here's the most important part.
Successful People Aren't Doing This.
While most people who are struggling are letting headlines dictate their decisions...
Successful people are looking at history instead and realize that there has never once been a time in history where someone wasn't saying "The world is falling apart."
That news is just easier to access than ever before, so the fear is louder.
- 1930's: Great Depression - "We'll never recover!"
- 1940's: World War II - "Everything we know is ending!"
- 1970's: Oil Crisis - "Economic collapse is here!"
- 2000's: 9/11, 2008 - "The economy will never bounce back!"
- 2020's: Pandemic, inflation - "Everything is falling apart"
Do you see the pattern?
Every single generation has felt exactly what you're feeling.
Every single generation had "legitimate reasons" to play it safe, shrink their dreams, and wait for things to get better.
And yet...
In every single one of those decades, a few courageous people decide to go against societal norms and start businesses, build wealth, transform their lives, pursue their dreams, and invest in themselves.
Not because the world was perfect. But because they understood something struggling people don't:
Success doesn't depend on the economy. It depends on your ability to focus on what you can control.
Because just like world renowned investor John Templeton said, "the greatest opportunities are at the times of maximum pessimism."
So if you're in your fear, that's okay. It's normal. But zoom out a bit.
- Life expectancy has doubled in the last 100 years.
- Extreme poverty has been cut in half in the last 30 years.
- Access to economic opportunity is higher than it's ever been in human history.
This is... BY FAR... the most abundant time to be alive.
Yes, there are challenges. Yes, there are real problems.
But the world is not falling apart.
Your survival brain... and the struggling people around you... are just wired for fear.
And let's be honest.
Even if things were just peachy...
If your mind is wired for fear, scarcity, and survival, how do you ever expect to become successful?