We Are Not Managing Chaos Today

Metaphorical Narrative

Picture a street carnival gone wild — drums banging, fireworks crackling, voices shouting from every corner. In the middle of it all, ego thrusts a clipboard into your hands and says: “You’re responsible for everything here. Keep it all under control.” The absurdity is clear: no one person can run a carnival. Yet the trick is convincing you that every wrong note, every loud bang, every spilt drink is yours to fix.

Core Insight

This is false agency — the burden of managing chaos that never belonged to you. Ego thrives by smuggling in responsibility disguised as safety. The mind accepts “wrong” as fact, and suddenly you’re the firefighter for every imaginary blaze. But the fires aren’t yours. The shift happens when you step back and ask: What is actually mine today? Chaos shrinks when facts return.

Behaviour change through ownership means defining the field of play. Two tasks on the calendar. Do them. Everything else — the urges, the alarms, the screams of “fix me!” — belongs in the bin. Ownership is not about rescuing the carnival; it’s about playing your role with clarity, leaving the rest to dissolve.

Saturday Experiment

• Put two things in the calendar. Do them. Bin the rest.
• Each time a new “responsibility” screams for attention, note it down on paper.
• Say to yourself: Not mine. We are not managing chaos today. Then return to your day.

Sunday Reflection

Which urges felt most convincing to adopt as “yours”?
How did it feel to refuse them?
In third person: He/She returned to the day instead of carrying the carnival on their back.