When the World Feels Like It’s Falling Apart

When the world feels like it’s falling apart, it’s a strange thing to find yourself standing in the kitchen debating whether to buy a wipeable tablecloth or a cloth one that won’t fray in a week. You’re reading about earthquakes, wars, job losses, and political chaos… and meanwhile you’re boiling pasta, folding towels, and reminding your teenager to actually drink water. Some days it feels ridiculous — this odd double life of global panic on one side and everyday mum-life decisions on the other.

But that tug-of-war between “the big world out there” and “my little world in here” is something so many of us feel, especially as Christmas creeps up and everything becomes louder, brighter, busier, and somehow more fragile than usual.

Because here we are… mums trying to keep our families steady while the news screams that nothing is steady at all.

And while I’m standing there choosing laundry additives or working out how to stretch the budget over the holidays, the questions creep in:

Does any of this even matter?
Do my small decisions change anything?
Should I focus on the bigger problems instead?
Or are these tiny, domestic choices actually part of something bigger?

And that’s when Jane Goodall’s words come back to me every single time:

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

At first glance, it feels like she’s talking about rainforest activism or humanitarian work — not tablecloths and laundry. But actually, she is talking about mums like you and me. Because we’re raising the next generation. We’re teaching our kids how to live gently, how to care, how to think for themselves, how to respond to a noisy world without losing their minds.

Every time you skip a harsh cleaner.
Every time you refill instead of throwing away.
Every time you choose calm instead of snapping.
Every time you stretch the budget instead of giving up.
Every time you show your kids kindness when the world shows them chaos…

You’re changing something — even if it doesn’t feel world-shattering.

Here’s the truth no one says loudly enough:

You are shaping the world by shaping the people in your home.

Read that again… 👆

It might not feel glamorous.
It might not feel important.
It might not feel “big enough” compared to everything happening out there.

BUT the world is built on homes just like yours. Not on headlines.

When the world shakes, your home becomes the anchor.
When things feel confusing, your routines form the scaffold your children stand on.
When everyone is shouting, the way you live teaches your kids how to stay human.

The small things ARE the big things.
Because they accumulate.
They steady.
They model.
They ripple outward…

And choosing a tablecloth, believe it or not, is not a silly thing — it’s setting the scene for conversations, meals, connection, and normalcy. Those things matter more in shaky times, not less.

So no, you’re not wasting time when you work out which cleaner is safest or which habits are most sustainable. You’re not “playing small” when you’re focused on your home instead of the war map. You’re building a stable bubble of sanity in a very unstable world.

And this Christmas, with so many people feeling lost, overwhelmed, and unsure where to put their emotional energy… maybe the best place to put it is right where you already are:

Your kitchen.
Your laundry basket.
Your kids.
Your home.
Your small, steady decisions that teach them how to live well even when life is messy.

Because when the world feels like it’s falling apart, we don’t need perfect mums.
We need present ones.
Grounded ones.
Resilient ones.
Ones who keep showing up in the small things — because that’s where big change begins.

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.'” – Mary Anne Radmacher

If this spoke to you today, share it with someone who might need the reminder. We’re all carrying something, and sometimes the smallest bit of encouragement is all a person needs to keep going.