India, May 13 -- A 38-year-old male client tells me, "I feel overwhelmed, and overcome with anxiety about news. I haven't slept peacefully in days, and I wake up several times in the night to check my phone for news updates. I am constantly doom scrolling, and feeling jittery and wired.' Yet another client tells me about fights she's getting with her parents over them watching the news at a high volume and constantly updating her about everything that's going wrong. Their anxiety, she says, is rubbing off on her, and she can't concentrate at work and is falling into spiral of melancholy. Therapy sessions in the last couple of weeks have been filled with conversations around how the current geo-political situation evokes travel anxiety, catastrophising and panic attacks. Clients across age groups speak of falling-out with friends on WhatsApp groups and of disappointments at how their friends and relatives are responding to the current situation, making them wonder about the shared values or rather its absence. If you have been experiencing any of this - you are not alone. Uncertainty is often followed by fear, social withdrawal, and a lowered capacity to handle stress. It simultaneously underscores a deep need to be close to those who carry the same values, share similar views and opinions because it allows us psychological safety. Given this, when people see posts or comments on social media which are divergent from their views - they feel disillusioned, disappointed and angry. Awareness about these feelings is the key. Sometimes when feelings get overwhelming or unpleasant, we choose to push them away or not acknowledge them hoping they would go away. But the reality is that when feelings are not acknowledged, they only grow bigger and come back to haunt us in unexpected ways. This could include inability to sleep or hypervigilance. The idea is not to tackle every big, painful feeling right away - because sometimes we don't have the capacity or the resources to do that. But naming the feeling, and building mindfulness allows us to recognize that we are not feeling centered, and that this 'naming' allows for the feeling to be tamed in small ways. Making room for all the feelings we are experiencing is the second step to feeling better, followed by the understanding that the ongoing situation is full of ambiguity and that we have to make room for uncertainty. While the pandemic had felt like a masterclass in ambiguity, the fog of the present times feels like a drain on our psychological and emotional resources. At such times it helps to ask yourself what are the things that allow you to be grounded. It could, for instance, be spending time in nature. It personally took me years to understand the importance of finding things that can help me stay centered. A good idea may be to consume news in small doses instead of constantly being on social media feed, to choose to mute accounts of friends, family and various groups if they are coming in the way of your wellbeing. When feeling triggered, it is best to not react - but take time to steady and ground yourself. The idea is to address the feelings rising within us rather than get into fights or blame games. If there is one time, when you shouldn't be rage texting it's now. Choose to not check the phone first thing in the morning and the last thing before you sleep. At the end of the day, these are moments where our resilience is tested, and instead of reacting - we need to connect to the things that anchor us, and to the people whose presence feels like home....