How to Stay Sane & Rooted in This Chaotic World

“They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” John 17:16  

In this episode, Aida talks about what it’s been like navigating everything that is happening in the world in real time. From immigration, crime, politics, negativity, and the constant noise online, there’s always something happening and something to process. It’s honestly hard to keep up these days without feeling overwhelmed. 

If you’ve been feeling the weight of everything lately, or trying to find balance between being informed and protecting your sanity, this is for you. We don’t have all the answers but let’s reflect together. 🫂

Transcript

AIda Ozuna 0:00

You are now listening to season three, episode seven of The Real Confessions Podcast Before we get into the episode, I wanted to acknowledge you for being here. Thank you so much. I can't believe we're on the seventh episode in season three. If TRC has provided any value to you, feel free and consider supporting the show. You can go on Therealconfessionspodcast.com click on the right hand side, you'll see support for a shout-out on our upcoming episode. Thank you so much. And let's get into the episode. Welcome back to another episode of The Real Confessions Podcast. I am your host, Aida Ozuna. It's March 21st, 2026. It's a Saturday. I'll be uploading this tomorrow, which is Sunday. And so I this whole week have been through ups and downs in terms of emotionally. And I would say it's a lot of different factors that play a part in this. But I would say the biggest factor for me personally has been realizing that is that there is so much happening in this world. But then there's a lot that happens in our own lives, like personally, that also take into consideration how we feel, you know, our mental health, our physical well-being, all of these different things. And so in this episode, we're going to be talking about how to stay sane in this chaotic world. I think that's what I'm going to title it. Um, you know, and essentially we're gonna be talking about how to remain calm, how to keep your sanity with everything that's happening in the world. And I mean, I don't need to spell it out for you, but if you're not aware, like we are in an economic crisis. Uh, the US is currently at war. Um, there's a lot happening in terms of immigration, there's a lot of crime and false narrative and so much happening online. There's a lot of hate, a lot of racism, still till this day. It's crazy that we're in 2026, but we're still dealing with racism, and we're dealing with these things that are happening, and if you try to really keep up with it all, you will go insane. This is not to say that I have it all together because even for me personally, I am figuring it out. I want to share a few of the things that help me, and even if something that is happening in the world doesn't necessarily affect you directly, if it's happening to somebody else, it affects you, you know, and it matters, and we all have a voice, we all need to utilize that voice to advocate for others, and so I want to have this rooted in God's word, so I want to go ahead and read from the book of John, and it's gonna be John 17 verse 14 through 16, and it says, in Jesus' name, amen. Verse 14, I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is your truth. As you sent me into this world, I have also sent them into the world, and for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. And essentially, this is Jesus praying for his disciples and praying for all believers. And I think that's very applicable to what we are experiencing now. I truly believe that you can get in this cycle of looking up bad news and knowing that it triggers you, and so you then regret looking up that news, and then you're you get stuck in the cycle of you know coming across another article or uh another something else that triggers you, and now you're in this constant cycle of anxiety because you're consuming this content, and I, for me personally, when I get to that point, I need to start redirecting that attention and create intentional time with God, create moments where I'm praying, create moments where I'm worshiping, you know, create moments where I'm reading the word, and don't get me wrong, I don't say this to say become oblivious to everything that's happening in the world. I say this to say that we are rooted where our attention should be rooted in God. There's so many distractions, and I am a nerd, call me a nerd, but I want to share this with you. I last night was on Google Trends, and Google Trends is actually a website that is accessible to everyone, but you're able to see what is trending on Google, and you know, for me personally, I have taken a step back from social media for like a week or two, like I haven't really been on social media as um as much, and I think it's really important. That's gonna be we're gonna talk about that um as well. But because of that, I'm like, I wanna see what is I don't know, like I wanna see what's what's going on, what are people talking about besides you know politics, and so I'm on Google Trends and I see that the category that is most searched for or category that has the most trending topics in it is entertainment. There's science, there's news, there's politics, there's sports. Sports was a big one too. But the one that was competing with all of the trending things that people Google was entertainment, and it's like you know, things that don't really matter, you know, for real. And I said to myself last night, like, wow, we are really down bad and we're really distracted, like as a society, we are distracted, we are in this world, but we are not of the world, and it's pretty sad that we're focused on Lotto being pregnant by 21 Savage, or we're focused on Chuck Norris his death, which I mean, rest in peace. Should we be divulging and indulging in the lives of other people? And should we really be this invested? And I question that a lot, whereas like you know, even I I find myself in pop culture too, and and looking things up, and and you know, like wow, you know, I'm not gonna lie, I did watch her music video, and I'm like, wow, I really love the aesthetic of it. And she was able to create like an experience based off of like her pregnancy and bring in archival footage of her childhood as well, but like at the end of the day, I'm like, okay, I watched that, all right. It did not impact me or change my life, but God does. And so I then towards the end of the night, I ended up finding myself in prayer. Um, and that brought me a sense of peace and love. And I know that I talked about you know building your relationship with God and sharing your faith outwardly uh and publicly in my last episode. Uh, but I also want to just reiterate that your relationship privately is crucial, and that's what's going to keep you grounded. Something that my mom mentioned before that I always think about during my hard moments is that um she shared a thought she was like, I don't know how people that are not believers, or I don't know how people that aren't firm on their faith and don't know about God even survive. Let's be real, God is with us in all the moments, good and bad. But I truly believe that when you have God and when you have developed that relationship with God in those moments is where you can feel confident to cry out for help and that He will come and help you and be there for you every step of the way. And so that is number one for me. Number two would be finding the balance between consumption and actually being informed. I have taken a step back from social media for like a week or two. I've consumed content in other ways, like podcasts, you know, reading, articles, stuff like that. Uh, but even that, like I truly believe, especially the things that are happening within your community, things that are happening that will directly affect you, things that will happen to people that you love or perhaps in different countries as well. Those are all things that are really important to know. In order for you to show up as a person that can advocate for other people, show up as a person that is empathetic, showing up for people that can speak on behalf of people that may come from marginalized backgrounds or you know, may come from backgrounds that may not be as prioritized in the media, you know, and it's really, really difficult to do that when you are not informed, you know, on what's going on in the world. Number three on how to stay sane in this world that we're living in, having fun. So for me personally, it's been a long week of school, you know, meetings and corporate and you know work in one of those weeks where I'm like, wow, you know, I'm really balancing this, all of this. I also need to have fun, and I also need to rest. And I don't know about you, but personally for me, I feel like I am wasting time when I'm not doing something productive, and I think that is probably because the culture that we're living in, um, and just how America operates and capitalism and hustle culture, but we still need to have fun. And when I say have fun, like have moments where you are doing nothing, when you're watching a show, when you're reading a book, where you're I don't know, if you have fun doing for me, I personally love to research. That is what I love to do. I love to look things up, I love to learn, and for me that's fun. So taking moments to do that, um, and not always producing things, but like looking stuff up. Like I'm a nerd, so I love doing stuff like that. Um, but having fun, like today, I'm actually going to go to David Buster's with um a classmate from school, which I would now consider a friend. Well, that's pretty cool. But having fun, and we're gonna go to David Buster's. I'm gonna also go visit my mom and drop Josiah off and have you know alone time, but also have quality time with other adults. Um, so I really believe that that is crucial to staying sane is yes, everything that's happening in this world, you know, could be sad, and then don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good things as well that are happening, but a lot of the things that are portrayed in the media are not always the most positive things, it's usually the bad things, and so learning to still have fun despite everything that's happening, or despite how we feel, or everything that we are balancing and our responsibilities is to have fun, however, that may look like for you. Number four on staying sane in the world that we're living in is is learning how to check out. Um, and when I say this, I mean like learning when to be like, all right, like I need to, and this kind of goes into number three is like balancing being informed and consumption, but like this one though is literally checking out when you need to walk away. And I recently have experiences where I I'm gonna share, I'm gonna share. I went to a church and I really love the church and I love the people there, but something that really got to me was the fact that we're mixing politics and religion where I'm coming to church to receive God's word, I'm coming to church to learn, you know, I'm coming to church to seek community and be in communion like God wants us to be. But when it comes to the point where the pastor is stating that anyone who's democratic is the is demonic, and so I can see both sides and I am informed on the things that are happening with both parties, the good and the bad. But I don't come to church to consume politics, I come to church for God's word, and so when we're mixing politics and God's word, I always feel unsettled. I always feel unsettled. I left feeling like conflicted and a little bit like uncomfortable. Learning to trust my discernment, I'm learning to trust when a place no longer aligns, learning when to check out and learning when to walk away, and you don't necessarily need to make a whole big show, like I'm leaving, slam the door and storm out, but people will ask, Oh, where did she go? But hey, and a lot of times God will actually place those emotions and those feelings, um, and will actually trigger those emotions to make you aware, like AA, this place is not for you, this is not for you, this is not where you need to be. The fifth and last thing that I would like to mention on how to stay sane in this world that we're living in, you probably guessed it, is finding community. Find community, find friends, find people that you can share your thoughts with, share your feelings with, share your emotions with, because you'd be surprised how many people can also relate to how you're feeling. So navigating this world that we're living in is not easy, but with finding your community, with learning when to check out, with having fun, with balancing, being informed, and over consumption, and most importantly, with God, those are some of the ways that I, Aida Ozuna, stay sane in this world that we're living in. And I really hope that this is able to help you or inspire you in any way. Feel free to share some of the things that help you stay sane in this world if you would like by calling our hotline, our number is down in the show notes. But if you don't know it, it's 813-444-8134. And I kind of memorized that by now, which is crazy. But I would love to hear you know your thoughts. Also, feel free to subscribe or follow on wherever you're listening on. May it be on YouTube. Um, if you're listening on Spotify, click that follow button. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, click that subscribe button. Um, and be on the lookout. So TRC will be dropping an episode every Sunday. So be on the lookout for that. This is where you'll find me. You'll find me here. Um, and we'll we're always gonna be chatting and talking. If you want to keep updated, right now I'm not on socials, but you can also follow me on Instagram at Ada Ozuna, follow the media page at the AO Media Studio on Instagram as well. Um, but that is pretty much everything. I hope that this was of value to you, and I will catch you next Sunday. I appreciate you. I hope you have an amazing week, and yeah, catch you in the next episode. Aida out..