Polycrisis Anxiety Leaves Many Struggling to Imagine the Future

Published: 18 January 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online

As a new year begins, it is traditionally a moment for fresh starts, long-term plans and hopeful resolutions. Yet for many people, 2026 has arrived not with optimism, but with a heavy sense of paralysis. Increasingly, individuals report struggling to think beyond the next few days or weeks, unable to picture a future that feels stable, positive or even imaginable. This sense of being trapped in the present is not an isolated feeling, nor a personal failing. It is a shared psychological response to what experts describe as a global polycrisis.

Across social circles and online spaces, people speak of merely “existing”, sealed inside an endless present tense where the road ahead feels foggy and threatening. Unlike the mindful practice of living in the moment, this experience is disempowering rather than calming. It stifles creativity, undermines motivation and makes long-term planning feel futile. Therapists are seeing this pattern repeatedly, and psychologists say it reflects a deeper loss: many people have, quite literally, lost their sense of the future.

Clinical psychologist Dr Steve Himmelstein, who has practised in New York City for nearly half a century, says this phenomenon is now widespread among his clients. He describes a growing inability to imagine or articulate future plans, even modest ones. When asked what they are looking forward to, many people have no answer at all. According to Himmelstein, the prevailing mood today feels darker than even the period immediately following the 9/11 attacks, a time often associated with deep uncertainty and fear.

This collective unease is driven by relentless exposure to destabilising forces. Global political tensions, economic volatility, rising living costs, job insecurity accelerated by artificial intelligence, extreme weather events and the lingering psychological impact of the pandemic have converged. Each crisis alone would be challenging; together, they interact and amplify one another. Social scientists refer to this phenomenon as a polycrisis – a situation in which multiple crises unfold simultaneously, compounding uncertainty and eroding people’s ability to make sense of what lies ahead.

Psychologists note that humans rely more on a sense of future possibility than we often realise. The belief in a better tomorrow makes present hardship more bearable and gives meaning to long-term effort. When that belief weakens, productivity suffers and despair takes root. Dr Hal Hershfield, a psychologist at UCLA who studies how people think about time, explains that humans do not truly “predict” the future so much as remember it. We create imagined memories of our future selves and use them to guide decisions, regulate emotions and plan our lives.

Radical uncertainty disrupts this process. When the future feels unknowable, the mind struggles to construct those mental snapshots. Research shows that simply reminding people how uncertain the future is can significantly reduce their ability to imagine future events and lowers their confidence in their own thoughts. In effect, uncertainty blocks access to hope.

While history offers examples of societies facing existential threats, many experts say what feels different today is the sheer number of simultaneous pressures. Political instability, environmental breakdown, health insecurity and economic disruption are no longer isolated episodes but overlapping realities. This constant strain overwhelms the brain’s capacity to imagine continuity between the present self and the future self.

Anthropologist Dr Daniel Knight, who studied communities in Greece during the debt crisis of the late 2000s, observed similar psychological responses. When long-held expectations of progress collapsed, people stopped planning far ahead and turned inward, focusing on family, friends and local community. In place of grand visions, they created what Knight calls “micro-utopias” – small, meaningful pockets of connection and purpose that made life feel manageable again.

History also shows that polycrises do not inevitably lead to collapse. Knight points to 17th-century Europe, a period marked by plague, economic turmoil, climate anxiety and political upheaval. Out of that chaos emerged profound transformation, including the foundations of the Enlightenment, stronger public institutions and advances in science and governance. These shifts were not inevitable, but the result of collective choices made under pressure.

Psychologists emphasise that resilience remains a defining human trait. Harvard professor Dr Daniel Gilbert notes that people consistently underestimate their capacity to recover from trauma. Even after severe disruption, most individuals eventually return to a stable level of wellbeing. The challenge is remembering this truth when uncertainty dominates daily life.

Experts suggest that reclaiming a sense of the future does not require grand visions. Instead, it can begin with values rather than outcomes. Planning around what matters most – family, learning, contribution, care – allows people to act meaningfully even when circumstances remain unstable. Flexibility is crucial, as is self-compassion when plans unravel.

Focusing on likely, near-term events rather than distant unknowns can also help restore continuity between the present and future self. Community engagement, mutual support and shared purpose have repeatedly proven powerful antidotes to despair during periods of crisis.

If the current moment feels overwhelming, it is not a personal weakness. It is a rational response to living through a time of intersecting global emergencies. History suggests that while polycrises narrow our vision in the short term, they can also open pathways to renewal. The future may be harder to see, but it has not disappeared. It is still being shaped, quietly and collectively, by the choices made today.