Return To Joy During Turbulent Times

The Ode To Joy Podcast

The Ode To Joy Podcast
Return To Joy During Turbulent Times
Jan 30, 2026 Season 3 Episode 5
Elena Box

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Feeling spun out by the headlines and the heat online? We name the collective dysregulation many of us are sensing and offer a humane path back to steadiness: grief literacy, nervous system care, and joyful integrity that doesn’t require disengaging from what matters. I share why doomscrolling is a trauma response, how the body interprets constant input as threat, and what conscious, bounded engagement looks like when staying informed starts to cost your aliveness.

Together, we unpack a practical compass for hard times: think globally, act locally, regulate personally. That means honoring limits, then turning attention to small, consistent acts of care in your neighborhood—checking on an elder after a storm, sharing groceries, making eye contact, or supporting a local pantry. We also challenge binary thinking and dehumanization, choosing to see the person across from us while refusing to use hatred as a coping strategy. Joyful presence becomes a form of resistance, a way to stay human without collapsing into apathy or burning out.

You’ll also get tactile tools to metabolize grief and release charge safely: submerged screams in a bath, rage rooms, angry walks in the woods, long exhales that reset the vagus nerve, cold-water resets, and a simple news boundary ritual followed by a hand-wash to signal completion. We close with a joy ledger practice and focused journaling prompts to clarify what’s truly in your control—your attention, your relationships, and your care for vulnerable people nearby. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs steadiness today, and leave a quick review so more listeners can find a humane way back to joy.


Journaling Prompts

  • “What am I actually grieving beneath my political feelings?”
  • “Where has my nervous system been asking for rest?”
  • “What does joyful integrity look like for me right now?”
  • “What is one small place I can show up locally this week?”
  • “What happens in my body when I step away from the noise?”

Support the show

Buy your copy of Elena's book "Grieve Outside the Box"
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