3 Things You Should Be Doing in Uncertain Times

If you've been on social media lately, you may have already stumbled into content creator Casanova Brown's viral series, the Age of Disclosure, an unflinching, real-people conversation about the state of the U.S. economy and what it is actually costing everyday citizens. Not the sanitized talking points. The real numbers. The real stress. The real lives behind the headlines.

The disclosures are sobering: rising costs, stagnant wages, shrinking savings, and a growing sense that the rungs of the ladder are getting farther apart, not closer together. For many, the economic uncertainty isn't abstract. It is deeply, personally felt. We can't always control the economy. But research tells us something powerful about what we can control: our locus of control, and it may be one of the most important psychological tools we have right now.

Researchers Becker and Birkelbach (2018) found that individuals with a strong internal locus of control, meaning those who believe their actions meaningfully shape their outcomes, reported significantly higher subjective well-being, even amid downward social mobility. In other words, the belief that you still have agency can protect your mental health when the world feels chaotic.

Here are 3 research-grounded practices to help us keep our mental health afloat when the economic waters are rough:

1. AUDIT WHAT YOU ACTUALLY CONTROL

Internal locus of control buffers the psychological toll of economic hardship. That buffer starts with clarity. Make a deliberate, written list of what remains within your power, your spending choices, your skill development, your support network, your daily routines. The act of listing is itself an act of agency.

2. STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS

One of the study's key insights is that social comparisons play a significant role in how we experience mobility and well-being. Instead of benchmarking ourselves against everyone else's highlight reel, track your own trajectory. Resist asking "How am I doing compared to them?" and ask yourself "What progress am I making relative to where I started?"

3. INVEST IN YOURSELF AND MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS

When external conditions are unstable, research supports redirecting focus toward domains where effort yields measurable return: physical health, meaningful relationships, and skill acquisition. They are the controllable domains that reinforce your sense of efficacy, which are central to sustaining well-being during periods of social and economic downward mobility.

I'm interested in learning about what you're doing to keep your head on your shoulders during these trying times. Please drop any tips you have in the comments. We need each other's wisdom.

#mentalhealth

Reference:

Becker, D., & Birkelbach, K. (2018). Social mobility and subjective well-being revisited: The importance of individual locus of control. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 54, 1–20.