How to Feel Grounded in an Uncertain World (2025)

I’ve often said that meaning and purpose are required for happiness. You need both. But they’re very different things.

Meaning is the story we tell ourselves about ourselves. It’s reflective and retrospective—how we make sense of where we’ve been. Purpose, on the other hand, is forward-looking. It’s about what we do with our lives now and in the future. While meaning is cognitive, purpose is action-oriented.

And then there’s grounding—the powerful practice of using meaning to anchor ourselves in the present and guide us toward our purpose.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about grounding. Like many of you, I’ve been carrying a fair amount of stress. Economic uncertainty, political upheaval, and personal worries—including my son’s recent surgery—have left me feeling unsteady.

And yet, somehow, this morning I felt at peace. I felt strong. I felt connected. I felt grounded.

So I asked myself: Why?

Let me tell you about my morning, and maybe it’ll help you find your own sense of grounding.

How I Stumbled Into a Grounding Practice

I started the day with my usual routine: a workout, a shower, breakfast. Because we’re currently doing some construction on the house, I headed out to find a quiet place to work. Just a few blocks away is the local hospital where I used to practice medicine.

I sat in the cafeteria with my laptop for about an hour and a half, catching up on podcast work and emails. As you might know, I’m a physician by training, and my father was, too. Hospitals—no matter how sterile or bustling—feel like home.

Sitting there, surrounded by the ambient noise of beeping monitors and footsteps echoing through corridors, I felt a deep connection to who I am and where I come from. A connection to my father, my profession, my story.

After finishing up my work, I stepped outside and took a long walk down to Northwestern University’s campus and out to the lakefront. It’s my favorite place in the city. There’s a stretch of land—originally landfill—that extends out toward Lake Michigan. There are athletic fields, walking paths, and panoramic views of downtown Chicago, some 13 miles in the distance. I’ve walked that path hundreds of times. It’s where I feel most connected to Evanston, the city where I was born and have lived most of my life.

As I walked, I was listening to a podcast—until something shifted. I felt so emotionally full, so present, that I switched over to classical music.

Now, I never used to like classical music. But years ago, my wife and I enrolled our kids in violin lessons, and for years we sat side by side in classrooms at Northwestern, listening to our children practice. Somewhere along the way, the music changed for me. It became infused with memory—of family, of love, of quiet moments together.

So why did I feel so good this morning, in the midst of a life that is anything but certain?

Because I felt grounded.

The hospital connected me to my identity as a doctor and to my father’s legacy. The lakefront reminded me of my roots, my community, my hometown. The classical music brought back memories of parenting, of shared moments with my wife and kids. Every part of my morning was rooted in meaning—stories, experiences, relationships that have shaped me.

And that’s what grounding is.

Grounding is the act of bringing our meaning—our stories, our identity—into the present so that it can guide our purpose. It helps us face the unknown with a little more courage. It doesn’t eliminate uncertainty, but it gives us something solid to stand on as we move forward.

I can’t control the economy. I don’t know when political turbulence will calm down. I don’t have a crystal ball that will tell me how the next year of my life will unfold.

But I do know who I am. I know where I come from. I know the people I love and the experiences that have shaped me. And I know how to ground myself in those things—to use them as a source of strength, direction, and even joy.

How to Ground Yourself When You Need It

If you’re feeling lost or uncertain, if the world feels chaotic or overwhelming, I invite you to consider grounding. Not just as a coping strategy, but as a way of being. A way of walking through life that pulls the best of your past into your present, and helps guide your future.

Ask yourself:

• What spaces feel like home to you?
• What memories fill you with warmth?
• What parts of your identity make you feel proud, connected, alive?

Then go spend time with those things. Revisit the places, people, and practices that have defined who you are. Let them remind you. Let them ground you.

Happiness requires both meaning and purpose. But grounding is how we live those things—how we carry the past forward, how we show up fully in the present, and how we move into the future with clarity.

That’s what I found this morning.

And it changed everything.