Learning to Navigate Collapse Without Losing Ourselves
This past year has opened my eyes in ways I can’t unsee. As the world around us shifts—climate, politics, culture, even our personal relationships—I’ve found myself reckoning with truths I once kept at a safe distance.
What began as a sense of unease has unfolded into waves of grief, outrage, and eventually, moments of quiet acceptance.
Alongside that grief, I’ve witnessed the suffering of my clients, friends, and family members—each trying to find a foothold in an increasingly unstable world. I’ve felt the weight of survivor’s guilt, knowing I cannot suffer enough to lessen another’s pain. And still, I return to this truth: suffering is not the only story we are living.
In the midst of collapse, I’ve also found beauty. Laughter that bubbles up through tears. Moments of coherence in deep conversation. Unexpected joy in a walk by the ocean or a shared meal. Gratitude that I get to walk with others through this time of great unraveling—not as a savior, but as a companion.
I know I’m not alone.
So many of us are quietly asking:
How do I keep showing up when so much seems to be unraveling?
How do I stay grounded in love and truth, without collapsing into grief or denial?
Is there a way to live with clarity, connection, and purpose—even now?
The short answer: yes.
But not through old ways of coping.
That’s why I’m creating a new course called Facing the Future with Power. It’s a space to build the inner and relational resources we need to meet this moment with compassion, clarity, and courage.
What if your dissatisfaction is a clue that your soul is ready to remember?
🧭 To escape the modern-day trap, we must stop looking outside ourselves for the answer. We must come home—to ourselves.
But here’s the truth:
Coming home to your true self isn’t automatic. It’s not the path of least resistance. It’s the path of conscious return.
It takes courage.
It takes tools.
It takes clarity to peel away the mask and set down the armor.
And it takes compassion to see that the strategies that once protected you are now holding you back.
💔 The moment you realize the life you’ve built may not reflect who you truly are can feel painful, even shameful. But this is not a moment to judge yourself—it is a moment of awakening. You are not broken. You are remembering.
🌀 What This Course Is Really About
At its heart, this course is not about fixing the world. It’s about reclaiming ourselves—our power, presence, and ability to navigate uncertainty with resilience and grace.
It will help you:
- Recognize your own emotional and nervous system responses
- Build capacity to stay present with hard truths and beauty alike
- Explore what it means to live soul-first, not fear-first
- Shift from reactivity to response
- Reconnect with nature, intuition, and creativity
- Release guilt and judgment, and find peace within impermanence
🧭 Where We Are: A Quick Primer on the “Stages of Awareness”
Inspired by the work of philosopher Paul Chefurka, many of us move through five broad stages as we become more aware of the global and personal shifts underway:
- Asleep – Everything seems mostly fine. Problems feel fixable.
- Awake to One Crisis – A single issue captures your focus—climate change, injustice, or collapse.
- Aware of Many Crises – You begin to see how deeply connected the problems are. It’s overwhelming.
- Aware of the Predicament – Solutions seem insufficient. Systems are failing. You grieve, withdraw, seek refuge.
- Awake to the Whole – You accept that collapse is not just external. It’s cultural, relational, spiritual. And you begin to ask: what now?
This course is designed to meet you wherever you are in this process—and offer the tools to keep walking, together.
💌 An Invitation
You don’t have to navigate this alone.
If this message resonates, I’d love to hear from you. Just reply to this post or reach out directly.
And stay tuned—next week, I’ll be sharing Part 2: The Problem We Can Solve, which dives into the deep shift I believe must come from within us first.
With heart,
Cindy
Dr. Cindy Sholes
