Breathe, Chill, Live
June 1, 2026
Life can be crazy these days. Wars, the economy, hate crimes, Trump, existential AI threats. Whew!
And everything happens crazy fast, courtesy of social media and an endless news cycle.
The Pope publishes a 42,000-word encyclical about the dangers of AI. It seems like something I should read. But who puts aside the daily flood of sound bites to read a 42,000-word document? And before I think further about it, it is overtaken by the next crisis.
With apologies for appropriating the title of the delightful 1960’s musical, “Stop the World – I Want to Get Off,” it describes how I feel nearly every day.
How do you cope with these things? Please let me and other readers know.
How do I cope?
Here is the Aging in America encyclical. It weighs in at less than one percent of the Pope’s effort.
Breathe
The four-square or box breathing technique is a quick form of meditation. The irony of quick meditation is not lost on me. But it is a wonderfully calming process.
Either sitting comfortably in a chair or stretched out on a sofa or bed, try to relax your body and close your eyes. Here is WebMD’s description of what comes next:
Step 1: Breathe in, counting to four slowly. Feel the air enter your lungs.
Step 2: Hold your breath for 4 seconds. Try to avoid inhaling or exhaling for 4 seconds.
Step 3: Slowly exhale through your mouth for 4 seconds.
Step 4: Wait for another 4 seconds before you breathe in again.
Repeat this exercise until you feel re-centered. Thirty seconds of deep breathing will help you feel more relaxed and in control.
Chill
I do not watch the news. I read it. Video is a hot medium for me. Its images and sounds trigger strong emotions. Reading is a cooler medium. I use a service called NewsGuard to help identify reliable information and avoid being inundated with phony, bot-driven junk that raises my blood pressure but not my knowledge. It costs me $5 a month.
The world is still scary but my continued existence as well as the planet’s does not seem up for grabs.
Also, people who’ve lived for six or seven decades have seen this stuff before and lived through it.
Live
Get on with your life. Hug a partner, a child, a grandchild. Add value to your days.
Stay safe, be kind, and don’t look away.
I am the principal author of Simon & Schuster’s Get What’s Yours series of books about Medicare, Social Security, and health care. Linked In.
I have a request, since I love and value your column. I have even used it to help start discussions with friends and family. I am 68 with some severe health issues, my husband is 76 with same, and in both cases some genetic history to stay aware of. At this time we are both still working bc of financial need, but also lucky to work at jobs we love, living lives with a great sense of purpose and many joys (though not happy with our country and of course worried about the suffering of others, doing what we can and making the latter as high a priority as we can, which is not nearly as much as we wish to do or give but all we can.) We are both working with our doctors and family to fill out our Oregon ADRs, which are wonderfully complex and leave room for extended expressions of desires, values, etc. It would be great to see you do one or several columns on this, because these are not simple documents. Even the POLST, which is way less complicated, still needed some help from our doctors to get very clear. But it is the ADR that really takes thought. It also has taken many talks between spouse and self to figure out how we would pay for care in difficult cases (unknown, unclear, and maybe in the end unwanted.) Now we have to talk to our adult children, at least one of whom has different values than we do. One of our doctors warned us that even with ADRs, if family really pressures providers sometimes one's wishes are overridden. I teach biomedical ethics at university level to upper division premed students; we discuss and intentionally complicate issues of autonomy throughout the course. This would be a good topic here, with another expert I have faith in. Your thoughts would be appreciated. Complicated stuff. And so important, bc it is about autonomy but also loved ones.
I'm not ready to go back outside like Meg Grahamme for my chill. I try to focus on what I can do, where I can contribute, adding some bit of clarity, understanding, improvement. This bolsters hope. For the rest, I exercise and stretch for the endorphins as much as for other benefits; and I share my concerns with other caring people. Every once in a while I take more distinctly political action, not as much because I believe holding up a sign is likey to move pols as because sharing this tells me and others who oppose book bans, and other initiatives we believe violate the best principles of our country, that we are not isolated outliers but a mainstream multitude.