It’s Time for Good Storms: Reclaiming Agency in Turbulence

This quote has been everywhere lately — and it resonates for a reason. It captures the mood of a world that feels unstable, raw, and increasingly hard to make sense of. And yet: what if we shifted focus from what is dying into what is transforming? This might not come easily, as the daily headlines speak for themselves: growing geopolitical tensions, escalating conflicts, widespread human suffering, and crossing the first planetary tipping point (that barely made headlines)… It’s all devastating, and it’s very human to feel despair. But the danger of despair isn’t the emotion itself — it’s what despair can do to agency. It convinces us that nothing matters. That we are powerless. That the only rational response is withdrawal, or clinging to what we think we can still sustain… And this is exactly the moment when we cannot afford to step back. This is not the time to let go of defending human rights, equity, and dignity — for taking responsibility for future generations seriously. Yes, the forces reshaping our world are too powerful to allow “return to normal.” Fundamental social, economical and ecological systems, beliefs, and processes cannot withstand what is unfolding, that much we know already (and we have been there before, and survived, take for instance the last industrial revolution). Accepting the new reality is not giving up: It’s the beginning of acting decisively, even if there is no clarity. Foresight teaches us something simple and vital: step back far enough to see the pattern — not just the shock. In systems language, we are living through a phase of release and reorganization. Old structures are failing. New ones have not yet stabilized.

This space feels dangerous and oddly hollow — but it is also the space where emergence becomes prominent.
And because the new world is “still struggling to be born”, we need more people who can help build it into being.
Not recklessly, not blindly, but with sensitivity to what is emerging — and with the resilience to keep building while holding our values, even when the winds are blowing in the opposite direction…
If this is a time of monsters, it is also a time for guardians — those who protect those who cannot protect themselves — and for builders, who shape renewal with care, curiocity and creativity.
We need more people who can operate at that interface.
Not people who cling to the status quo, wasting effort defending what cannot endure.
But people who can see beyond the storm and build toward what must come next.
Yes, Fukuyama got it wrong. Liberal democracy did not inevitably “win.” Power has shifted toward narrow interests, extractive strategies, and systems that undermine the very foundations they depend on.
And yet — courage is still here. Resistance is still here. Science, innovation, solidarity, and care are still here (just look at the news again!), and this all shows that the direction of the future is not predetermined.
It will be shaped by what we do now — and by whether the forces of equity, sustainability, and collective wellbeing can outweigh the forces pulling us to the opposite direction.
This is why I believe it’s time for Good Storms.
Not storms for destruction — but storms that clear space for renewal.
Good storms are about staying present in turbulence, turning risk into possibility, and continuing to build the world we want to live in even if the pathways are not clear.

Because the future belongs to those who can act and build in the storm.