Living Happily in a Clusterfuck – Part 1: How Do You Develop Resilience in the Face of Crisis?

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The concept of mental resilience almost always refers to emerging from crises stronger (crisis resilience), so as to be able to lead a contented, more resilient life after the crisis. This is a sound and important perspective, which naturally entails its own methodological characteristics. Many methods are designed to help people remain capable of taking action, cope with everyday life, avoid dragging their own family into a psychological downward spiral, and so on – until the (foreseeable) end of the crisis.

In fact, resilience does not mean simply getting through a crisis somehow, but rather describes the fundamental ability to remain mentally steadfast under the pressure of crises. Even in the long term.

In today’s world, we face the problem of having to function in a world that is hurtling towards collapse at breakneck speed. Unfortunately, this removes a key motivation behind the conventional notion of resilience, as this ‘bright future after the crisis’ – on which perseverance is often focused – is becoming increasingly unlikely.

This is a situation that we humans find very difficult to cope with, as it contradicts our fundamental behaviour as Homo sapiens – a situation in which crises no longer stand alone, nor do they occur solely within a defined timeframe or in a limited part of the system. They are now transregional, persistent and mutually reinforcing. Those who like to come across as serious talk of a ‘multi-crisis’, whilst the more outspoken, away from the lecture hall, use a different term for it: clusterfuck!

We can therefore see that methods designed to guide people ‘merely’ through a limited crisis may themselves be reaching their limits – not all of them, but certainly the common practice of ‘mindfulness through breathing exercises’. Nevertheless, the collapse of the world as we know it does not automatically have to go hand in hand with a loss of joie de vivre, even if these connections cannot be dismissed out of hand. Building on this line of thinking, I’d like to offer a few pointers here. You may already be familiar with some of them; others will open up a new perspective for you. For the best possible life in the midst of adversity.

1. Acceptance of the problem

This is well known – yet this acceptance is the hardest exercise and the most common point of failure. As this clusterfuck buries any hope of a better future, we must accept that life is becoming increasingly difficult, threatened, painful, joyless and, ultimately, not worth living. That, after all, is the crux of the struggle for a future worth living: if things don’t work out, as it currently looks, then life will no longer be worth living. For many… including you?

The most important part of acceptance is allowing yourself to go through those painful days or weeks that this step initially entails. Once you accept the collapse, the world loses much of its colour; it becomes bleak, and even simple things lose their meaning. Thoughts arise such as: ‘Surely I can’t lose hope? What’s the point of carrying on then?’

That sounds like a bout of depression – and that’s exactly what it is. But for people who are reasonably mentally stable, it’s a temporary phase. Don’t worry, the colours will return, in some cases more vividly than before. The meaning of life returns too, usually even stronger. The phrase ‘Whoever saves a life saves the whole world!’ becomes tangible on a deeper, more meaningful level.

We all know of examples of people who have been on the brink of death and who have drawn mental strength and a different, life-affirming world view from that experience. You can picture this process something like this: it is an intense, palpable crisis that passes and sharpens your senses. Things, places, people, animals and experiences become more relevant when they are under threat. Accepting that threat actually strengthens one’s capacity for love. And what, if not the capacity for love, is at the heart of all existence? (OK, photo finish: the capacity for love, cats and music)

2. Human Interaction

We Homo sapiens are social beings. When we feel happiness, we want to share it; when we feel anger, we want to share it (both far too often on social media these days). When we’re afraid, we seek the protection of the group. This is appropriate in context, although some people have never learnt to distinguish between a superficial group and genuine solidarity. Here, too, social media is a problem when people retreat into echo chambers full of ‘likes’ and ‘friends’ without really knowing these people.

The shower of hearts and ‘likes’ in a social media group may feel great – but that’s just how it is with emotional triggers when they’re immediately satisfied. However, it’s only in relationships beyond these fleeting triggers that true fulfilment is found. This could be with family, partners or friends. But it’s essential that these are people who like you for the person you are.

Not without their flaws – after all, we all have our weaknesses – but where musical, culinary, intellectual or even political differences have no bearing on that vague sense of trust and solidarity, that’s where you might be better off.

At the end of this train of thought, it is openness that makes Homo sapiens feel most at ease. If you can open up – whether you’re sharing love or burdens – then you’re in good company. You’re still in good company even when these people say ‘Stop!’ from time to time – because the openness of a healthy relationship applies to everyone involved. You’re allowed to speak your mind; that won’t jeopardise the close bond. The person you’re with is allowed to do the same. Relationships without any friction are therefore unlikely to last, whether online or offline. So choose your inner circle wisely and without putting on a front.

3. Letting go

Human beings are creatures of habit; as such, they cling to the familiar notion of an eternally stable civilisation – a misconception, as we discussed at the outset. We’ll come back to habits later; in this section, we’ll focus on how to keep our minds as free of clutter as possible – a fundamental necessity in a world that’s changing at breakneck speed. It goes without saying that, in such a situation, it’s important to be able to let go of old habits. But the value of letting go runs deeper.

Let us take the climate movement as an example, which for many years has made it its core mission to highlight the severity of the climate crisis. The climate crisis has now escalated to such an extent that – both today and in the future – it is taking on this task itself. The climate movement must now let go of its previous mission and tackle this (desirable!) dynamic in the climate debate with a new, contemporary approach.

But that hurts, because losing one’s life’s work feels as though life itself is losing an important purpose. That is why we are currently seeing a tendency within the climate movement to cling, almost desperately, to the idea that ‘it is we who explain the severity of the crisis to people’. In doing so, they end up trapped in a cycle of frustration and lose touch with the public. So bear in mind that your life is not a fixed task – it is a state of constant change.

Tasks consume a lot of resources. Relationships take up a lot of your time. When you let go of any of these, vast spaces are freed up. This reveals new paths and new people, connections and possibilities. Because letting go is often a definitive step, don’t be overly cautious about it, but do proceed with care. And compare the heaviness of holding on with the lightness of letting go; then you’ll get a sense of that intense lightness that is often hidden in letting go.

4. Losses

Here we now come to the practical aspect of resilience training. I’d like to distinguish between conscious letting go and unwanted, perhaps even sudden, loss. It is this loss that we’ll be focusing on now. Incidentally, loss is essentially what we need to prepare ourselves for mentally: from the abstract loss of planetary boundaries, through the concrete loss of a burnt-down forest or a politically suppressed association, to the personal loss of the sand bees in your garden or a person you love. This is going to be tough – so let’s learn to deal with it.

Losses trigger strong emotions: grief, anger, loneliness and so on. Fear is also part of the picture, because anyone who loses a peer group, a home or an entire region often finds their very existence threatened. These feelings will be at their strongest at the outset, but they will only disappear permanently if you summon the courage to ‘walk through’ them (Frank Herbert: ‘Litany Against Fear’). Losses are therefore not just painful experiences; they are also intensive training for the nervous system to cope with such experiences.

There are now two paths: running away and facing up to it. Both, incidentally, are forms of training, because our nervous system learns a great deal through repeated action. Whatever you do repeatedly becomes ingrained. So identify the losses in your life that you haven’t yet come to terms with, and take those important final steps. If a loss has hit you hard, work through it, but don’t suppress your emotions. Helpful keywords include ‘rituals’ and ‘togetherness’. At mfis.wordpress.com/2025/12/26/ein-ritual-fur-die-gruppe you’ll find a group ritual on the theme of ‘the climate crisis and loss’.

5. Burnout

Anyone who is burnt out – and there are more of us every day – barely has the strength to survive. In everyday life, at work, in family situations and so on, every small step is a huge effort. So being burnt out is certainly not a pleasant situation.

Yet even here lies an opportunity that is far less vague than the trite calendar saying that ‘every cloud has a silver lining’. The crux of this opportunity is that burnt-out people have to focus on the basics. ‘I need at least two holidays a year!’ quickly becomes: ‘I just need someone to listen to me.’ (Note: Neither social media nor AI really listen to you.)

So what is the structural change in a situation of burnout? First, the superfluous burdens are cast aside, then those that are only of limited importance, until, in the end, survival mode remains and only the basics (eating, drinking, rudimentary hygiene…) are maintained. After that, at the very latest, things should start to look up again – but without taking on all those burdens once more.

Some burdens are unavoidable (e.g. once you’re fit for work again), yet experiencing burnout is also a clean break that can clear away a lot of dead weight. Not least: inconsistent life philosophies, misguided goals, toxic relationships and so on.

So what should you do during a phase of burnout? Naturally, shed the dead weight – but given the lack of energy, this happens quite automatically. What supports this process and can ensure a positive long-term effect is guiding it effectively. Analyse why you’re letting something go, what you’ll miss about it, and what freedoms this release brings you. For example, make lists of the pros and cons of each thing, and once you’ve let go of several, sort them according to their relevance to your past, present and future life. Always bear in mind the space that is freed up as a result.

Because: Very often, especially when you’re burnt out, the world feels like a small, cramped box – every item you let go of can open a window, allowing the far larger world out there (and inside you) to become visible again.

What’s still missing

If you’ve read carefully, you’ll surely have noticed that some paragraphs (e.g. paragraph 3 in 5. Feeling burnt out) could just as easily have been placed elsewhere. The topics I’ve listed separately here aren’t actually that easily distinguishable (except, of course, in a theoretical sense). The epicentre lies in the theme of ‘loss’ – and there’s a clear reason for this, which I’ll summarise with the following statement:

We have entered the age of loss. For the rest of our lives.

Topics for which there is no longer room here include, for example, rituals, habits, body awareness and trance – whereby the latter does not refer to electronic music, but to the state of consciousness. However, it would be a fatal mistake to claim that you simply need to employ a few mechanisms and observe certain behaviours, and then this future will turn out quite nicely for you. As I said, it’s unlikely to be pleasant for anyone when the spaces in which we live are noticeably shrinking and the mad and the malicious continue to gain the upper hand. This clusterfuck is simply not a pleasant scenario.

That’s precisely why it’s important to equip yourself with a solid mental toolkit. For your own sake. But also so that you’re strong enough to remain a stable presence for others when a situation hangs in the balance. As we’ve known for a long time: “Only together are we strong!”

Dominic Memmel, born in Würzburg in 1980 and living in Leipzig since 2014, works as an activist, communications consultant and podcaster. Visit the author’s page.