"The Axios Show": Mel Robbins on staying under control in a world of chaos

Mel Robbins — businesswoman, podcaster and bestselling author — tells Axios CEO Jim VandeHei on Episode 3 of "The Axios Show" that "The Let Them Theory," which has sold 6 million copies, arms you with "a healthy response to what is a very chaotic and overwhelming state of the world":"What is out there has already happened. It is beyond your control right now, but you get to choose how you respond to it. That's the let me part. Let me decide what I want to think about things. Let me decide what I want to do or don't do."What to watch: Catch the full episode, out Tuesday morning. ... Subscribe to our YouTube channel.Video transcript:VandeHei: What do you say to your friends who are, and you probably get flooded with this both from friends and from emails and readers, which is, "I look at politics over here, I look at AI and robots over here, then I stare at my phone and I look at all this sludge pouring into my brain." I can't 'let it.' What the hell am I supposed to do? This is bigger than a quick fix of, 'I'm just going to let it go.' What do you tell them?Robbins: Who said it's a quick fix? What do I tell them?VandeHei: —with the enormity of those three things.Robbins: Here's what I'm going to tell you: Things are really scary right now. And if you are feeling overwhelmed, if you are feeling anxious, if you feel this sense that things are out of control, I want you to know that you're mentally well. That is a healthy response to what is a very chaotic and overwhelming state of the world. What is out there has already happened. It is beyond your control right now, but you get to choose how you respond to it. That's the 'let me' part. 'Let me' decide what I want to think about things. 'Let me' decide what I want to do or don't do. 'Let me' decide whether or not I'm going to let these very normal, mentally healthy feelings rise up and run me over, or whether I'm going to pay attention and settle myself and be more present. Because when I'm more present, when I start volunteering in my community, when I start aligning myself with what is important, things start to change, I start to feel different. I start to feel comfortable saying what I believe. It starts with us.