There is something I notice more and more in my consulting room. People arrive carrying not just their own personal burdens, but the weight of the world itself. The anxiety is no longer only about relationships, or work, or self-worth — though those remain very real. It is now layered with something bigger, something that feels harder to name and even harder to control.
You are not imagining it. The world is genuinely more unsettling than it has been for many years. And if you are struggling, you are in very good company.
What My Patients Are Telling Me
Financial pressure is perhaps the most universally felt strain right now. The rising cost of living, interest rates, job uncertainty, and the quiet shame that so often accompanies financial stress — these are showing up in my rooms daily. Money worries have a particular way of colonising the mind, making it almost impossible to feel safe or to plan ahead with any confidence.
Global conflict and instability weigh heavily too. Even when war is happening far from our shores, we are no longer insulated from it. We watch it unfold in real time on our phones and screens, and something in our nervous systems responds as though the threat is close. This kind of chronic, low-grade fear is exhausting — and many people don't realise how much it is affecting them.
Relationship strain has intensified for many. When people are stressed, anxious, and financially stretched, the people closest to them often bear the brunt. Couples are struggling. Families are fractured. Loneliness — even within relationships — has become one of the defining experiences of our time.
Uncertainty about the future — for ourselves, our children, our country — creates a particular kind of anxiety. It is hard to feel hopeful when the road ahead seems unclear. Many people find themselves stuck in a loop of worst-case thinking, unable to rest in the present moment.
What I Want You to Know
First: what you are feeling makes complete sense. Anxiety in response to genuine threat is not weakness — it is your mind and body doing exactly what they are designed to do. The problem is that our nervous systems were not built to sustain that level of alertness indefinitely. When worry becomes chronic, it stops being useful and starts being harmful.
Second: you have more resilience than you know. Every person reading this has already survived difficulties they once thought they couldn't. You adapted. You found a way through. That capacity does not disappear — but sometimes it needs to be rediscovered, and sometimes it needs support to re-emerge.
Third: you do not have to carry this alone. One of the most powerful things a person can do — and one of the hardest — is to reach out and say, I am not coping as well as I would like to. There is no shame in that. In fact, it takes considerable courage.
Practical Anchors for Difficult Times
While therapy offers the deeper work, there are things you can do right now to steady yourself:
- Limit your news intake. Staying informed is reasonable. Scrolling through crisis coverage for hours is not — it activates your stress response without giving you any sense of control or resolution.
- Return to your body. Anxiety lives in the mind but is felt in the body. Gentle movement, conscious breathing, time in nature — these are not luxuries. They are tools.
- Tend to your close relationships. Connection is one of the most powerful buffers against stress. Invest in the people who matter to you, even in small ways.
- Focus on your circle of influence. You cannot fix geopolitics or the global economy. But you can make one good decision today. You can have one honest conversation. You can take one small step forward. That is enough.
- Be honest about how you are doing. With yourself, and with someone you trust.
A Word of Encouragement
I have sat with people in some of the darkest moments of their lives, and what I have witnessed over more than 30 years is this: people are remarkably capable of healing, growing, and finding meaning — even in the most difficult circumstances. Not despite their struggles, but often because of them.
The future is uncertain. It always has been. But uncertainty is not the same as hopelessness. There is still beauty to be found, connection to be experienced, and growth to be worked towards.
If the weight feels too heavy right now, please don't wait until you are at breaking point to ask for help. Reaching out early is not a sign of weakness — it is wisdom.
My door is open.
— Dr. Susan Roets
Psychologist | Hypnotherapist | Counsellor | Life Coach
Stellenbosch, Western Cape