Leadership anxiety expert and author Steve Cuss joins Good Faith producer DT Slouffman to offer essential insights for navigating feelings of anxiety around political tensions, specifically during Trump’s turbulent second term.

Steve draws from his unique background as a trauma chaplain to explain what anxiety is, and how chronic anxiety spreads through reactivity in social media and fear-based narratives. He explores how cognitive dissonance – the discomfort we feel when our beliefs and experiences clash – can fuel evangelical anxiety and deepen divides in faith communities.

But Steve doesn’t just name the problem, he offers strategies for anxiety management that emphasize presence and mindfulness, gratitude practices, and the healing power of faith and compassion. His message is especially timely for those seeking peace in chaotic times. With a focus on cultivating peace rather than escalating panic, this episode is an invitation to find emotional and spiritual balance. Whether you’re wrestling with headlines or struggling with division in your community, these insights provide chronic anxiety solutions rooted in grace, presence, and hope.

Steve Cuss: There are several different kinds of anxiety and they all manifest differently, show up differently, and are caused by different things. For example, acute anxiety is caused by a real life or death threat to you or your loved one.

The field that I think is most helpful for today is what’s called chronic anxiety. It’s fascinating because it’s only ever based on something false. Chronic anxiety looks like reactivity. That’s the problem we’re really dealing with: how do we lower our reactivity? What’s fascinating about all the anxiety is that if we just focus on reactivity, it’s the only kind of anxiety that’s contagious. That, in a nutshell, is the problem today. We are catching and spreading it like wildfire, but it’s always based on a false need that feels real.

When I see a snake in Australia, that’s real, and my heart races. But if I’m a people pleaser, that would be a false need – but my body is acting like it’s real. For many people, having the last word, being right, being understood, being respected – these are all false needs. So when it comes to political conversation, we’re pummeled with all this stuff and it’s triggering our false needs and our reactivity.