If the World Is Volatile, We Must Ground Ourselves
In the first episode of Walk the Walk, Head of School Scott McLarty explains why conversations about compassion, trust, and purpose are essential in today’s uncertain and anxious world. Evolving from his former weekly 1‑1‑1 messages, the new podcast aims to strengthen connection and explore meaningful questions. Scott introduces the VUCA and BANI frameworks to describe current challenges, then offers eight intentional responses—grounding, curiosity, wisdom, paradox, connection, resilience, agility, and mystery—as ways to navigate these times with clarity and hope. He ends by inviting listeners to reflect on one question: When the world feels volatile, what helps you stay grounded?
If the world feels especially volatile these days, you’re not alone. Headlines change by the minute. The technology that amazed us yesterday is outdated tomorrow. One post, one storm, one rumor, and everything feels different.
But volatility isn’t new. It’s the human condition. Civilizations have always faced sudden turns: wars, pandemics, economic upheavals, moral reckonings. Maybe what’s different now isn’t the volatility itself, but our surprise at it. Many of us (especially in the West) have lived through decades of relative stability, and we’ve mistaken comfort for permanence. The world was always VUCA+BANI; we’re just more aware of it now.
So the question isn’t how do we stop the volatility? It’s how do we live wisely within it?
Grounding Isn’t Standing Still
At Providence, we say that if the world is volatile, then as people of Providence we must ground ourselves. Grounding isn’t about planting our feet and refusing to move; it’s about knowing where our roots are so we can bend without breaking.
In her new book, Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, The Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit, Brené Brown reminds us that being grounded is not just steadying, it’s propulsive. “Strong ground is the only thing that can provide both unwavering stability in a maelstrom of uncertainty and a platform for the fast, explosive change that the world is demanding.”
The so-called attention economy (which might be better termed the distraction economy) keeps us un-grounded by tethering us to the realm of the volatile (a.k.a. social media and the 24-hour news cycle). According to The Denny Center for Democratic Capitalism at Georgetown Law, “In the contemporary digital landscape, human attention has emerged as the principal object of economic capture and commodification. Referred to as the attention economy, this system treats cognitive focus as a scarce resource to be algorithmically extracted, packaged, and monetized by dominant technology platforms.” We literally pay attention every time we scroll. And what do we get for it?
Neuroscientist Amishi Jha says our attention has never been more important or more under threat. In her new book, Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes a Day, Jha make it clear that the practices of mindfulness are a powerful countermeasure to the advance of the attention economy into our minds. Attention is a kind of groundedness. Consider Jha’s diagnosis: “If you’re feeling that you’re in a cognitive fog: depleted attention. If you’re feeling anxious, worried, or overwhelmed by your emotions: hijacked attention. If you can’t seem to focus so you can take action or dive into urgent work: fragmented attention. If you feel out of step and detached from others: disconnected attention.”
When volatility hits, whether it’s a new policy, a family crisis, or a social-media firestorm, our instinct is often to tighten up, defend, and control. But the antidote is not control; it’s attention; it’s connection to ground. Grounding starts with the inner work of slowing down and remembering who we are and what we stand for.
For the Sisters of Providence, grounding has always meant trusting in something larger than ourselves: the loving presence of God active in and through all things. Providence isn’t luck or fate; it’s relationship. It’s the quiet confidence that we are held, guided, and invited to respond with courage and compassion no matter what the world brings. When we root ourselves in Providence, we discover that the ground beneath us is steady, not because life is predictable, but because the One who is Love is.
Five Ways to Ground Ourselves
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Return to rituals.
Start and end the day with something that connects us to our ground: prayer, stillness, journaling, gratitude. These aren’t luxuries; they’re stabilizers.
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Feel our feet.
Grounding is physical as well as spiritual. Step away from the screen. Exercise, take a walk, stretch, breathe. Remind our nervous systems that we have bodies, and that it’s safe to be here, now.
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Re-root in values.
Jim Collins once wrote that the best organizations are both values-driven and performance-obsessed. The order matters. When we lead from values (compassion, dignity, justice, excellence, and integrity) our decisions steady others, even in the chaos and when the decisions are hard.
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Practice joy
Be unabashed in doing the things that bring us joy. Walk the dog, cook a meal, put on a favorite song and dance, play a board game, color with crayons, serve at a soup kitchen. Remember Henri Nouwen’s advice: “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” -
Lean into community.
Grounding is both a personal responsibility and a communal activity. When one person stays grounded, everyone nearby finds themselves a little more balanced and sturdy. The gift we give each other is not the promise of certainty, it’s the presence of steadiness.
So this week, when things inevitably shift again, pause. “Let your breath be your first word” as Jefferson Fischer recommends.
Remember that in a volatile world, grounded people are the ones who make others feel safe enough to grow. We choose to ground ourselves so that we can uplift others.
—Scott McLarty