When the World Feels Too Loud: The Three-Foot Reset
How I learned to come back from the edge — and built a method to help others do the same.
A few years ago, I was walking into a conference after-party. The noise hit me before the crowd did — that low hum of too many voices, too much energy in one space.
As I headed toward the escalator, a man came barreling down, moving fast, eyes wide.
As he passed, he said, “There’s too many people up there! I’ve got to get some space!”
I laughed at the time, but the truth is — I’ve been that guy.
For these past nine months, it feels like I’ve only been that guy.
The World Has Gotten Louder
Lately, it feels like we all have.
The world is loud — the news, the injustice, the endless scroll.
And for those of us with ADHD, it’s like living with the volume turned all the way up.
Our brains don’t just see everything — we absorb it.
Every story lights us up.
Every “what if” sends us chasing a dozen possible outcomes.
We care deeply, and that’s beautiful… but it’s also exhausting.
I used to think the answer was to learn more. Stay informed. Stay ready. Stay alert.
But what I was really doing was burning myself out in the name of being “prepared.”
That’s when I remembered that man on the escalator — and realized I needed space, too.
When ADHD Meets Overwhelm
When I get overwhelmed, I don’t always look it. Most days I just go quiet.
My brain races under the surface — connecting dots, solving problems that don’t exist yet, running through every possible future as if I can think my way into safety.
But that’s the ADHD trap, isn’t it?
We overthink because we care.
We try to fix everything because we feel everything.
And eventually, we end up standing in the middle of the noise, out of breath, just trying to find a way back to calm.
The Three-Foot Question That Changed Everything
What helped me come back wasn’t another system or app or productivity hack.
It was something simpler — a grounding question from a Navy Seal:
“What’s in my three-foot world?”
Meaning: What’s right in front of me? What can I touch, influence, or control today?
That question became the foundation for what I now call The Three-Foot Reset — a six-step method for ADHD minds (like mine, like ours) to come back from overwhelm, one grounded step at a time.
It’s not about tuning out the world. It’s about coming back to your world — the real, tangible one you live in.
Through this method, I’ve learned to step back before I spiral, move my body when my brain overloads, and reset my system so I can keep showing up — for my family, my work, and the causes I care about.
It’s how I’m learning to be steady, even when the world isn’t.
What I’d Tell You If You’re on the Edge
If you’re feeling fried — overstimulated, tired of caring so much in a world that won’t slow down — I want you to know that you’re not alone.
What you’re feeling is normal.
It’s human.
And it’s something we can come back from.
We don’t have to fix everything.
We just have to come back, so we can keep going.
Your Next Step: The Three-Foot Reset
That’s why I wrote my new guide, The Three-Foot Reset: How ADHD Minds Step Back, Refocus, and Reclaim Control in a Chaotic World.
It’s 19 pages of real-world methods, reflection checkpoints, and grounding tools built from lived experience — not theory.
If you’ve been standing at the top of your own escalator lately, just trying to find space to breathe, this is for you.
👉 Get your copy here: https://learn.pathfinderchronicles.com/l/three-foot-reset?layout=profile
Come back from the edge, one step — and one day — at a time.