How do you keep your cool at work when the world outside your office feels like it is on fire?
Maybe the better question is: Why are we so determined to keep our cool?
Depending on your role, gender, age, and privilege, you may or may not be triggered daily. You may be angry. Really angry. Or you might be blissfully unaware and asking yourself, what is going on with everyone? I’m talking now to group one (filled with rage), and if you are in group two (blissfully unaware) maybe this will be useful insight.
So of us are tired of being expected to leave our personal feelings at the door when those “personal feelings” are about whether we—and the people we love—will have autonomy, safety, healthcare, economic security, or a voice in what happens next.
There is a collective rage building right now.
And pretending otherwise doesn’t make it disappear. Even if it isn’t happening to you internally.
For many women, that anger is deeply personal. Women’s reproductive rights continue to be contested and restricted across the country. Then there is the Cornell “57” case, in which a woman alleges she was sexually assaulted by seven fraternity members, and many more knew about it and didn’t intervene. The case has reignited questions about consent, intoxication, institutional accountability, and whether our systems actually protect people. The criminal investigation has since been reopened, with the state attorney general taking over the investigation.
And underneath all of this is a reality that women, and men, know all too well:
Sexual violence isn’t something that happens only to “other people.” It is part of the lived experience of far too many people.
Then look at the broader picture.
We watch billionaires and massive corporations accumulate extraordinary wealth while ordinary people are told there isn’t enough money for the programs and services they depend on. Or building data centers and ruining the environment and quality of life of those nearby by sucking up water, power, and resources while also polluting with noise, light, and eye sores.
We watch public institutions get weakened. And it seems like every institution has been corrupted by money coming from the highest bidder.
And then, last week, we heard the president of the United States (a convicted felon and sex offender named thousands of times in the Epstein files himself) talk about Iran potentially “taking out” Los Angeles or San Diego and call it a “very small price to pay.” Whether he intended the remark literally, rhetorically, or as part of a larger argument about the Iran war, hearing a president casually talk about millions of American lives this way is jarring, if not flat out treasonous.
So yes. I am angry. And I suspect I’m not alone. But here’s what I think…
“Rage isn’t the problem. Rage is a normal reaction to times that aren’t normal.”
Anger can tell us that something matters.
It can tell us that a boundary has been crossed. That something feels unjust. That our values are being threatened. That we are witnessing something we cannot reconcile with the world we want to live in.
The goal isn’t to eliminate the anger. The goal is to decide what we’re going to do with it.
The problem isn’t rage. In some of these cases, the problem is that there aren’t enough people feeling it, or at least acknowledging it.
At the same time, rage takes energy. And if we’re not intentional about where we put that energy, it can consume us.
We can doom-scroll for hours. Argue with strangers online. Replay the latest headline in our heads. Snap at coworkers or family members who had absolutely nothing to do with what made us angry.
Or we can go in the opposite direction and suppress it entirely because we’re afraid of being labeled “too political,” “too emotional,” “difficult,” or “unprofessional.”
Neither is a particularly healthy response.
There is a third option: Feel it. Name it. Then channel it.
Take the anger to the ballot box. To a phone call to your representative. To a community organization. To volunteering. To supporting someone who needs help. To having the uncomfortable conversation. To refusing to normalize something you believe is wrong.
You don’t have to turn every workplace conversation into a political debate.
But you also don’t have to pretend you’re not a human being living through a difficult moment in history.
And this is where leadership matters.
Good leaders understand that people don’t magically stop being human when they walk through the office door.
Great leaders recognize that when the world feels unstable, employees may be carrying fear, grief, anger, or uncertainty into the workplace. They don’t have to agree with everyone’s politics or solve the world’s problems.
But they can acknowledge reality.
They can say, “I know things feel heavy right now. How are you doing?”
They can create space for people to be human without turning the workplace into a political battleground.
Because asking people to leave their humanity at the door isn’t professionalism. It’s denial.
Rage itself isn’t inherently destructive
Rage is information. What we do with that information is where our power begins.
Three things you can do today to channel your rage
- Turn your anger into one concrete action
Pick one thing. Not twelve. Not everything happening in the world. One. Call a representative. Write an elected official. Donate to an organization doing work you believe in. Volunteer. Help someone who is directly affected by an issue you’re angry about. Then stop.
You don’t have to save democracy before lunch.
Small, consistent actions create far more change than an occasional explosion of outrage.
- Use your workplace influence
You don’t have to turn every meeting into a political debate. You can simply become the person who notices who isn’t being heard. Who gets interrupted. Who gets credit. Who gets overlooked.
Who is being asked to tolerate behavior that someone else would never be expected to tolerate.
Who needs an advocate. Your sphere of influence may be much smaller than Washington, D.C.
That’s okay.
“Change doesn’t require you to control everything. It requires you to do something where you have influence.”
- If you’re not angry, get curious about why
This one may be uncomfortable. If you are reading all of this and thinking, “Honestly, none of this really affects me,” consider that a privilege, not proof that there isn’t a problem.
You don’t have to feel personally threatened by something to care about the people who are. You don’t have to wait until your rights, your community, your paycheck, or your family are directly affected before you pay attention.
Read something outside your normal information bubble. Listen to someone whose lived experience is different from yours. Volunteer. Have the uncomfortable conversation. Pay attention to what your elected officials are actually doing, not just what they say.
Because disengagement is also a choice. And sometimes privilege looks like believing nothing is happening simply because it isn’t happening “to you””.
We don’t need less feeling. We need better direction.
There is a difference between being consumed by rage and being motivated by it. One leaves you exhausted and powerless. The other can make you extraordinarily clear.
You can be furious and still go to work. You can be furious and still lead with compassion.
You can be furious and still laugh with your coworkers. You can be furious and still build something better.
In fact, maybe that’s part of keeping your sanity right now.
Don’t deny what you’re feeling. Don’t let it own you, either.
“Feel it. Name it. Then decide where you’re going to put it.”
Because the world doesn’t need more people pretending everything is fine.
It needs people who are paying attention, and choosing to do something about what they see.
And for the love of democracy make sure you VOTE.
If there is anything we’ve learned from the Cornell case to the Holocaust, it is this…
“Silence doesn’t make you neutral, it makes you complicit.”
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Below are some resources whether you feel rage or not:
Stay informed reading non-corporate owned media
1440 News, an independent, employee-owned company and says it is not affiliated with a larger media outlet.
Stay informed with news, public affairs, politics, current events, investigative journalism and analysis
Contact your representatives
U.S. House of Representatives
Find Your Representative by ZIP code
Enter your ZIP code to find your current House representative and their contact information. The House specifically recommends contacting your own representative, and its switchboard is 202-224-3121
U.S. Senate
Find your U.S. Senators
This gives you the contact information and web forms for your state’s two senators. The Capitol switchboard, 202-224-3121, can also connect you directly to a senator’s office. U.S. Senate
Tip: When contacting Congress, be specific. One issue, one request, and a brief explanation of why it matters to you as a constituent tends to be more useful than a general “I’m angry about everything.”
Organizations worth supporting
These organizations cover different areas, so you can choose based on what matters most to you.
Indivisible is a national grassroots movement empowering local groups to defend democracy, take action on key issues, and organize collectively.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Works across civil liberties, voting rights, reproductive freedom, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrants’ rights, free speech, privacy, religious liberty and criminal justice. The ACLU has both national programs and state affiliates.
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF)
Focuses on racial justice through litigation, advocacy and policy work, including voting rights and equal protection. LDF describes itself as a legal organization fighting for racial justice. Legal
FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression)
Focuses heavily on free speech and freedom of expression, including issues involving universities and workplaces.
League of Women Voters
A nonpartisan organization focused on voting, civic participation and voter education.
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