Time to heal

• "I just can't seem to switch off."

• "My to-do list is never-ending and I struggle to let go at the end of the day."

• "I'm so miserable working for my boss that my anxiety's returned."

• "I'm feeling disengaged and depressed in my job but I have to stay because, you know, I have a mortgage to pay."

• "If I don't take sleeping pills, I can't get to sleep at night."

There's been a spike in the number of coaching inquiries I've received lately related to stress and wellbeing.

When I hear statements like those in the quotes above, I get a sense of how much people are struggling to cope with the challenges they're currently facing in their lives.

And while each individual is unique - and may be feeling like they're the only one in their situation - they're definitely not alone.

The increasing personal interest in products from wearable tech, nutritional supplements, and even protection crystals, not to mention growing corporate investment in wellbeing programs, is evidence a great many of us are seeking the illusive feeling of flourishing right now.

Many of the systems we've created and contribute to maintaining have proven to be fundamentally unhealthy and unsustainable, not only for ourselves but for our planet: from the ultra-processed foods and toxic chemicals damaging our health, to environmentally damaging agricultural practices; from always-on work cultures that esteem constant busyness and drive burnout, to industries driven to extract our limited natural resources for short-term profits.

In her documentary film, systems-thinker Joanna Macy describes the interconnectedness of all things, beautifully draws a link between the planet's suffering and our own in this unprecedented moment in time, and encourages a compassionate approach:

"We need each other in ways I think that we never have before, because all through human history, there was this tacit assumption that life would continue on this planet. Oh, yeah, there were wars, there was poverty, there was plague and pestilence, death, of course, and illness and old age and all of that. But always there was that tacit assumption that life would continue and that the work of our hands and our hearts would go on for future generations.

And that's what's lost now. And that loss of certainty for the ongoingness of life is the pivotal psychological reality of our time, I believe.

So my way of dealing with the overwhelm is to look it straight in the eye and say, 'There you are again', to realize that we are suffering with our world. And not try to pave it over and not apologize for it and not see it as a personal weakness, a personal craziness, but almost to bow to it and say, 'Ah, you are suffering with your world. It’s the most natural thing in the world. The most wholesome, healthy thing in the world, too.'"

While the notion of healing our world can seem daunting, in heeding the wise words of Lao Tzu, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", we can trust that taking a step towards healing ourselves is a great place to start.