Philosophy
When Chaos Reigns, "Act Accordingly" Might Be the Best Plan
How a stuffy British phrase may be all you need to know about everything.
Posted May 31, 2025 Reviewed by Margaret Foley
Key points
- We live in a world that's saturated in theories.
- Theoretical advice often fails in real-world chaos.
- Adulthood means facing what is, not what should be.
We are living—I’ve come to believe—in a kind of Theoretical Soup.
Every day, there’s a new concept, framework, acronym, or urgent whisper from a podcast trying to explain life to us. “It’s all about attachment styles!” they say. Or: “You need to understand late-stage capitalism!” Or: “Everything is trauma!” And while I love a good theory (God knows I’ve snuggled up to a few in my time), there’s something increasingly absurd about trying to use a TED Talk to navigate an actual thunderstorm. Or heartbreak. Or the inside of your own head.
A Scene I Can’t Shake
Which is why I keep thinking about this one story I heard at the Wake Festival in Belfast, an event organized by philosopher and mischievous soul-stirrer Peter Rollins. I was attending a segment of the festival called The Philosophy Portal, hosted by Cadell Last—a man who appears to have decided to read Marx instead of pursuing his other option: to become a Viking. Cadell speaks in charged, looping cadences—as if trying to explain the universe before it dissolves.
In this particular session, he was interviewing Helen Rollins—philosopher, filmmaker, author of Psychocinema, and director of the hauntingly beautiful Irish-language short Allone. Helen, with her long blond hair, striking blue eyes, and feline poise, radiates both elegance and edge. She has the calm precision of someone who’s used to being the smartest person in the room, but doesn’t need you to know it.
Cue Explosion, Enter Wisdom
So, Helen’s telling this story about her school years. She was in a British cadet program (yes, tanks were involved), and during a summer training camp in Germany, a massive storm hit in the middle of the night. One of the military floodlights collapsed into a puddle and exploded. Kids were screaming. Chaos reigned. Sparks flew.
Into the mess walked Ms. Jones, Helen’s chemistry teacher-slash-chaperone, who had apparently spent more time showing her students documentaries about junk food than actually teaching chemistry.
Ms. Jones surveyed the blinking, wet, nigh-to-be-electrocuted youngsters, paused for a beat, and said simply:
“Act accordingly.”
The Most Useful Advice That Seems to Say Nothing
That’s it.
No instructions. No plan. No rules. Just: Act accordingly.
The cadets, Helen said, found the phrase hysterical because it basically meant nothing, and they swiftly made it their password.
The reason I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the phrase is this: I think it might be the only advice that actually works.
Not “follow your bliss.” Not “live, laugh, love.” Not “make a five-year plan.” Just: Look at what’s in front of you. And act accordingly.
The Truth Is, You’re Already in It
Isn’t that what adulthood is? Looking around at your flooded tent, your sparking wires, your metaphorical (or literal) German tank, and saying, “Right. This is happening. Now what?”
It doesn’t tell you what to do. It doesn’t pretend you’re in control. It just insists: You are here. And that means something.
We spend so much time these days reacting to reality as if it’s some glitchy, unwanted update to our lives. “This wasn’t the plan,” we think, as if anyone has ever successfully lived out a plan. “This isn’t what was supposed to happen,” as if there is some golden version of your life in the cloud, just waiting to download if you meditate hard enough.
But what if the most radical, grounded, feminist, anti-capitalist, wildly useful thing you could do...was to act accordingly? Not to your brand. Not to your trauma. Not to your projection of what this should be. But to what it is.
Right now.
A storm. A spark. A woman in her nightgown saying, in so many words: It’s not about having the answer. It’s about showing up for the question.
Your New Life Mantra
I think about it when I find myself mid-anxiety spiral. When the dog throws up on the couch two minutes before a Zoom. When someone I love says something unforgivable. When I’m alone, and it’s too quiet, and I start thinking of the many ways the bottom could drop out of my life.
What now?
Act accordingly.
It doesn’t mean stoicism. It doesn’t mean surrender. It means: Start from here.
And I think that might be the closest thing we’ve got to a map.
