What Writing About Authoritarianism Taught Me About Control
After tracing the patterns of power and fear, I realized something simpler but harder — control begins within three feet of us.
When I finished writing last week’s Field Guide on authoritarianism, I felt pretty heavy.
Not because I hadn’t expected what I found — my ADHD brain had already connected the dots before I ever started typing — but because seeing it all laid out confirmed what I think many of us already feel.
That creeping sense that the world is slipping into something darker.
That our systems aren’t built for the people anymore.
That we’re shouting into noise that keeps getting louder.
It’s a hard thing to sit with.
The Paradox of Clarity
The strange thing about clarity is that it doesn’t always bring comfort.
Sometimes it just gives you a better view of the storm.
But here’s the thing I realized — and it hit me about halfway through writing that piece: clarity also gives you a starting point.
It tells you where you are.
And once you know where you are, you can decide what’s next.
That realization shifted something for me.
What I Can Control (and What I Can’t)
When I was recovering from alcoholism, one thing that helped me more than almost anything else was the Serenity Prayer.
Not because I believed in “God” in the traditional sense — I didn’t, and still don’t, not in that way — but because the words themselves gave me something solid to hold onto when everything else felt uncertain.
“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.”
I remember repeating it quietly to myself, sometimes a dozen times a day.
Not as a plea, but as a way of grounding.
It helped me separate what was mine to carry, and what wasn’t.
And lately, I’ve found myself returning to it again.
Because I can’t control what the Supreme Court does next.
I can’t control the policies being written in the dark.
I can’t control how the media spins, distracts, and divides.
But I can control what’s within three feet of me.
My focus.
My breath.
My reactions.
The tone I bring into my home, my work, my relationships.
That’s it — and that’s enough.
The Lesson in the Reset
Writing about authoritarianism reminded me why I created The Three-Foot Reset in the first place.
Because when everything feels too big, too chaotic, too out of reach — that’s when we need to come back to what’s right in front of us.
You don’t fight chaos with chaos.
You fight it with presence.
And presence starts small.
It’s the three feet around you — your space, your breath, your decisions.
That’s the zone of control that no system can take away from you.
Moving Forward
I don’t know what the months ahead will bring.
But I know that whatever happens, I want to meet it grounded, focused, and intentional — not reactive.
Because the truth is, authoritarianism doesn’t just rise in governments.
It also rises in our minds — every time we surrender our focus, our hope, our agency.
So this week, I’m coming back to center.
I’m practicing what I wrote.
And I invite you to do the same.
Start with what’s within three feet of you.
Read the guide: The Three-Foot Reset
A focused, practical guide to reclaim your attention, energy, and sense of control when the world feels overwhelming — one small reset at a time.