Mental Health in Crisis Mode: How to Reclaim What You Can Control

WISCONSIN (CIVIC MEDIA) – If you are feeling emotionally spent, socially isolated, or politically exhausted, you are not alone. Positive Psychology Coach Kira Sabin says she is hearing from people of all ages and many feel as if their mental health is stuck in crisis mode. She joins Todd Allbaugh, host of The Todd Allbaugh Show, for the first of a three-part series of discussions during Mental Health Awareness Month. 

The conversation begins with a vulnerable admission from Allbaugh. The weight of daily news has become too much for some of his listeners – and for him, too. 

“I just don’t think I can come on this show every day and say the world’s on fire,” he says. “We’re just not wired for constant crisis.”

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Listen to the entire segment here:

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Sabin agrees and points out the way humans are neurologically unprepared to handle the deluge of daily emergencies we encounter through our phones and media. 

“Our grandparents might have had one emergency a year. Now we scroll and face five before breakfast,” she says. “Our brains interpret consistency as safety, but this world offers very little of that anymore.”

So, what does it mean to live in a world you cannot control? 

Topics ranging from political unrest to global warnings about the end of the universe – yes, even that comes up – leads Sabin to describes the important difference between awareness and obsession.

“When we try to control things we can’t—like other people, timelines, or even the state of the world—it leaves us anxious, paralyzed, and often resentful,” Saban explains. “What we need to do is shift our energy toward what we can control.”

That shift, as she describes it, starts with recognizing four core personal needs that are exclusively yours to manage:

1. Physical well-being
   
2. Emotional happiness
   
3. Purpose and passion
   
4. Self-worth
   

“We often try to fix others, or hand off our own needs to someone else,” Sabin says. “But you can’t drink a green smoothie for your partner. You can’t make someone feel worthy. And no one else can decide what makes you happy.”

Allbaugh shares his own example of putting off a difficult call, only to find the outcome far less stressful than the worst-case scenarios he’d built up in his mind. 

“I’d created days of anxiety over basically nothing,” he admits.

Sabin also emphasizes how community—not conflict—can be a healing force. 

“We’re lonely,” she explains. “And lonely people tend to isolate and then go online to make sense of that pain. That’s where bad actors find us. But real conversation and connection? That’s where your healing starts.”

The series continues next Tuesday, when the focus will turn to practical coping strategies for an overwhelmed world. 

“It can’t just be beer and cheese,” Sabin jokes. “Though maybe sometimes.”

If you are seeking community and sanity in these uncertain times, this series is meant to offer you not just some answers, but real hope, too.

Additional resources:

Kira Sabin’s Website here

National Alliance on Mental Illness – Wisconsin Help Page here

State Action Plan to Address Mental Health Crisis – Take the Survey here

Mental Health – America Wellness Page here