Do you feel like you have been running on empty for a while? Like you just can’t catch your breath, no matter what you do? Maybe you’re numb to the headlines. Maybe you snap at the people you love. Maybe you know you should be preparing your family, but you just can’t find the energy to take that next step.
You are not imagining it. And you are not alone.
We have been talking about this topic for a while now, and after a conversation with our friend Tim McWelch, and honestly, after living through some of it ourselves, we knew it was time to address it head-on. What we are talking about is crisis exhaustion: what it is, what it is doing to you, and most importantly, what you can do about it.
Full Disclosure: I’m not a doctor. I’m just a mom and grandma who’s been struggling and has found some great answers that work for my family and me.
What Is Crisis Exhaustion?
Think back to early 2020. Since then, the world has not slowed down. We’ve had a pandemic, economic instability, supply chain disruptions, natural disasters, geopolitical conflict; one thing after another, stacking up like bricks on your chest. And that doesn’t even account for the personal challenges each of us faces: the loss of a loved one, health struggles, financial stress, family difficulties.
Our bodies were designed to handle short-term stress. That whole fight-or-flight response is brilliant when you’re dealing with an immediate threat; a flood, a fire, or yes, even a lion chasing you. Your body knows exactly what to do. But it was never designed for years of ongoing, relentless stress. When the pressure never lets up, you never fully recover. You just wear down over time.
One blogger put it perfectly: Every headline wants your cortisol. Everything is sensationalized. Everything is designed to trigger a stress response. And we are absorbing it constantly.
The result is crisis exhaustion; a state of physical, emotional, and mental depletion caused by prolonged exposure to stress and uncertainty. Sometimes it is called crisis fatigue, burnout, or overwhelm. Regardless of the name, it can be dangerous.
How Crisis Exhaustion Affects You
This isn’t just feeling tired. Crisis exhaustion shows up in your emotions, your body, and your behavior. Here’s what to watch for:
Emotionally
- Numbness and loss of empathy. I get earthquake updates sent to my phone. A few years ago, a significant earthquake would have shaken me. Now I look at the notification and think, oh, that’s too bad. And move on. That’s not callousness; that’s a brain that has been on high alert for too long.
- Sadness, anxiety, and a sense of hopelessness.
- Irritability and snapping at the people you love.
- Cynicism and loss of motivation.
- Decision fatigue. A 2021 study found that 32% of people during COVID struggled just to make basic decisions. As preppers, our ability to make clear, calm decisions is essential; so this one really matters.
- Brain fog and difficulty concentrating.
- Doom scrolling obsessively OR completely disengaging from what’s happening in the world. Neither extreme serves us.
Physically
- Fatigue that sleep doesn’t fix. This is one we experienced personally during a particularly hard season in our family. We were so depleted that the basic tasks of daily living felt overwhelming.
- Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.
- Digestive problems.
- Elevated blood pressure.
- A weakened immune system.
Behaviorally
- Withdrawing from family, friends, and community. The exhaustion makes us want to retreat into a corner. But isolation only makes things worse.
- Unhealthy coping mechanisms: overeating, turning to alcohol, and excessive screen time. I’ll be honest, stress eating is something I personally struggle with. The chocolate calls my name.
- Panic buying: purchasing everything you think you might need, regardless of what your budget says is wise.
- Complete disengagement from preparedness; throwing your hands up and saying, I know I should do something, but I have no power over any of this.
We always advocate for balance. Preparedness is an important slice of the pie, but it is just one slice. When crisis exhaustion is running the show, we swing to extremes: either frantic panic buying or total shutdown. We want to live in that healthy middle ground.
9 Steps to Recover from Crisis Exhaustion
The good news is that crisis exhaustion is manageable. Here’s what has helped us and what the research supports.
1. Name It
The first step is simply acknowledging what’s happening. Do a little mental inventory. Ask yourself: Am I numb? Am I more irritable than usual? Am I more exhausted than normal even when I’m sleeping? Is my motivation gone? If the answer to several of those is yes, this might be exactly what you’re dealing with. You can’t fix what you won’t name.
2. Limit Your Information Flow
Too many of us are spending too much time doomscrolling, and I include myself in that. We can’t afford to stick our heads in the sand, but we also can’t afford to pour endless energy into consuming alarming content. Try limiting yourself to 15 to 30 minutes of news per day. Choose quality sources. And pay attention to how you feel while you’re reading. If anxiety starts creeping in, that’s your signal to put down your device.
3. Take Care of Your Body
This one is foundational. Sleep, movement, and nutrition are the pillars that make everything else possible. Daily walks have been shown to reduce stress hormones. Getting outside in nature is especially powerful for me personally; time outside is non-negotiable. When I’m in my garden or just walking around the property, I feel like myself again. Make time to prepare and eat nourishing food. Take care of the body that is carrying you through all of this.
4. Lean on Your Faith
This is probably the most powerful strategy in my personal toolkit. My relationship with God is the anchor that keeps me steady when the world is chaotic. Prayer, studying my scriptures, practicing gratitude; these things shift my perspective from scarcity to abundance. When I focus on everything I’m grateful for, it genuinely changes the way I see the world. When the headlines are loud and the uncertainty feels overwhelming, go back to your foundation. Build that relationship. It will make all the difference.
If you would like to learn more about prayer or how to build a relationship with God, you can request a visit from missionaries who can teach you. It’s free, and it just might change your life.
5. Stay Connected
Crisis exhaustion makes us want to withdraw. Resist that urge with everything you’ve got. Reach out to your family, your friends, your community. We have a group of prepper friends we get together with sometimes, and yes, we talk about the hard things. But something is grounding about saying things out loud in the presence of other people you trust. Sometimes you hear yourself and think, Wow, I’ve blown this way out of proportion. Community gives us perspective. And when you focus on helping someone else, your own burdens feel lighter. Together, we are stronger.
6. Establish Schedule and Routine
During COVID, one of the things that hit people hardest was the loss of routine. When the structure of daily life disappeared, people lost their sense of control and security. To the extent that you can, build and maintain a consistent schedule. Wake up at the same time. Eat at regular intervals. Create predictability in a world that feels unpredictable. And be sure to schedule in fun. Jonathan and I are both workaholics, and sometimes we have to ask ourselves, what even is fun? But then we have the kids over for games, and suddenly we’re laughing so hard our sides hurt, and everything feels different. Schedule the joy. Don’t leave it to chance.
7. Do a Regular Mental Inventory
Just like we rotate our food storage and check our supplies on a regular basis, we need to do regular checkups on how we’re actually doing. What is draining you? What is filling you up? What do you need more of, and what do you need to let go of; even temporarily? I had to do a very honest inventory during a particularly hard season for our family. I was running faster than I had strength. My life was full of good things, but I had to put some of those good things on hold because I didn’t have enough margin left to heal. That was a hard decision, but it was the right one. Awareness is the reset button. Small corrections made early are so much easier than trying to recover after you’ve completely crashed.
8. Celebrate the Small Wins
We talk a lot about small, steady steps around here, and there’s a reason for that. Big dramatic overhauls are exhausting and unsustainable. But small, consistent progress compounds over time into something remarkable. Don’t wait until you’ve reached some major milestone to feel good about your progress. Celebrate every small step forward. Even if you’re moving more slowly than you’d like, the fact that you are moving is worth acknowledging. Progress is progress.
9. Get Help If You Need It
This one matters deeply to me. If you are dealing with constant anxiety, depression, or a sense of hopelessness that won’t lift, please reach out for help. We are meant to have joy. We are meant to feel hope and light. And sometimes, when we’re deep in crisis exhaustion, we can’t get there on our own. That is not a weakness. That is courage. I noticed during one of my hardest stretches that I had stopped humming. I hum all day, it’s just part of who I am. And when I caught myself humming one day again, I told Jonathan, I felt joy today. Just for a moment, but I could feel it again. If you’ve lost your hum, whatever that looks like for you, please don’t hesitate or wait to ask for help.
The Bottom Line
Crisis exhaustion is real. It can happen to any of us, and it has happened to us. Here’s why it matters so much in the context of preparedness: when we are running on empty, we cannot make good decisions. We cannot have the clarity, courage, and strength we need to stand up to whatever comes our way and handle it with calm and confidence.
If you’re struggling, the first step is just to acknowledge it. Name it. Then start taking small, consistent steps toward getting yourself back. You don’t have to do it all at once.
Remember, community is one of the most powerful resources we all have. We lift each other. We learn from each other. And together, we are far more prepared than we could ever be alone.
Thanks for being part of the solution!
Jonathan and Kylene Jones