By Amber Weigand- Buckley
Can we just be honest for a second?
We’re all living like emotional sponges right now, soaking up everyone’s opinion, everyone’s drama, everyone’s hot take on literally everything.
And as someone who needs medication just to slow my brain down enough to think instead of react, let me tell you: this is not sustainable.
Are you feeling it, too? We’re in the middle of a full-blown emotional real estate crisis and it’s frankly exhausting to say the least.
The Airbnb Problem
Somehow many people have decided that being offended is a full-time job.
Both sides of every argument are crumbling like overcooked cookies, and everything pops off like water on hot grease. Meanwhile, we’re handing out keys to our emotional apartments like we’re running an Airbnb special.
Come on in! Set up camp in my headspace! Make yourself at home. I’m preaching to myself right here, girls! At the end of the day, I’ve found myself wondering why I’m exhausted, anxious, and emotionally bankrupt.
Here’s a truth bomb: If I expect everyone to think like me, act like me, and choose like me, then I’m not showing love—I’m being controlling while wearing a Christian T-shirt.
Do You Feel Yourself Sinking?
Remember Peter walking on water?
He’s out there doing the impossible, literally defying physics, because his eyes are locked on Jesus. But then what happens? He looks left, looks right, sees the humongous waves crashing in—and sinks.
We think it’s the storms of life sinking us, but we rarely recognize that the firestorm of other people’s opinions is what’s really taking us down. When I start focusing on the disturbing sound waves around me—the rhetoric, the controversies, the offensive everything—I sink. Over and over.
And I realized something crucial: I do not have the emotional currency to spend on being offended. Do you?
5 Signs You Have Emotional Squatters in Your Headspace
Here’s how you know people are living rent-free in your emotional space:
1. You’re rehearsing arguments with people who aren’t even in the room. You know the ones—shower arguments, 2 AM spirals, formulating your comeback before you even talk to the person.
2. Someone else’s bad mood becomes your bad day. Their energy walks in and hijacks your peace like it owns the place.
3. You check social media and immediately feel your blood pressure rise. If scrolling feels like volunteering for an anxiety attack, that’s a sign.
4. You can’t focus on your own life because you’re mentally managing everyone else’s. Their choices, their drama, their problems become your obsession.
5. You feel responsible for fixing, correcting, or educating every wrong opinion you encounter. We are not required to do the heavy lifting—the only way people’s opinions can change is if the Holy Spirit moves. And to be honest, there are things—there are mindsets—He wants to change in us as much as other people. We are on a mission to connect people with the Savior, not to build a kingdom in this world we are comfortable with.
The Monkey Wisdom We Forgot
Remember the three wise monkeys?
Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil? There’s some serious wisdom there. We have to guard three entry points:
•Our ears—what we allow in
•Our eyes—what we consume
•Our mouths—what we release
Most of us are drinking in controversy like it’s our morning coffee, then wondering why we can’t find peace. We’re doom-scrolling through everyone’s worst takes and worst days, then asking God why we feel so disturbed.
“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” (Isaiah 26:3 NIV). Notice it says steadfast minds, not minds ping-ponging between every opinion, controversy, and offense.
Your Preemptive Strike: 6 Practical Ways to Protect Your Peace
1. Put a “Do Not Disturb” sign on your heart. Not everyone gets access. Not every opinion deserves your response. Not every controversy requires your emotional investment. Full stop.
2. Recognize your triggers and stop them at the door. Is it social media? Certain news channels? Specific people? Name them. Write them down. Then create boundaries. Sometimes it’s better to silence a friend than keep reading their feed and getting offended every time.
3. Have a script ready for emotional hijackers. Something like: “I’m not willing to receive this into my heart and mind right now.” You don’t have to be mean, but you have to be firm.
4. Remember: They don’t care if you’re offended. Seriously. The people offending you aren’t losing sleep, so why are you giving them your peace?
5. Ask yourself: Is this stealing my peace or building my purpose? If it’s not moving you toward what God called you to, it’s a distraction. Release it.
6. Practice compassion without absorption. How did Jesus show up with compassion without being controlled by the crowd’s emotions? He stayed centered on the will of God. Jesus is our deflection of emotional bullets, stopping them at the door of our heart.
The Bottom Line
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6–7 NIV).
God offers to be the supernatural bouncer for your heart and mind. I want to take Him up on that offer. The world is broken. All sides are equally fractured. We live in a fallen world with fallen people having big emotions and trigger-happy reactions.
God’s orchestrating the final outcome—He’s got this. So why let people who don’t even know you steal the peace that God freely gave you? Put up your emotional “do not disturb” sign today. Keep your eyes on Jesus in the middle of the storm of rhetoric. And let everyone else’s offense be their problem, not your prison.
Your peace is too valuable to give away for free.
Amber Weigand-Buckley, editor of Leading Hearts, is an award-winning author and podcaster. For more insights like this, subscribe to #randomdevothoughts Insights on the Jesus Heart from an ADHD Mind, available on all podcast platforms and Coffee Chat with Amber & Lisa.
