Fixing Broken Systems Isn’t Enough—Here’s How to Reimagine Them

How Rewriting Your Reality Seeds Global Transformation

As the clock ticked toward midnight on December 31, 1999, fear gripped the world. The Y2K bug, a programming glitch in systems that used only the last two numbers of the year (99 rather than 1999 or 2099), threatened to throw civilization into chaos. Why? Because software developers of yore couldn’t imagine we’d still be using their code decades later. With programs unable to process the shift from the 1900s to the 2000s, experts warned of potential catastrophe: power grids could fail, banks might lose track of your savings, and planes could, maybe, fall out of the sky.

Cue the apocalypse frenzy: budget preppers stocked canned beans while luxury bunker-builders promised underground spas, people crammed floor safes with cash and gold, and preachers promised fiery judgment as the world went up in hellish flames.

Even rural Papua New Guinea, where I was then serving as a Peace Corps volunteer, wasn’t immune to the buzz. The locals—who already lived largely without electricity or modern infrastructure—wondered what would happen when “civilization” collapsed. We volunteers reassured them that the collapse would be within human-made systems and that they’d be fine. They probably wouldn’t even notice. Heck, they might even outlast the rest of us and lead humanity’s next great civilization.

Luckily, the Y2K disaster never came. Engineers scrambled to patch systems, and the world slid into the 21st century with only minor hiccups. But the panic highlighted a timeless truth: when systems are built for a specific moment in time, they can’t adapt indefinitely. Human-created systems eventually break under the weight of progress. Without recalibration, they risk collapse.

Fast forward to today, and we’re living through a similar reckoning—but this time, patching won’t cut it. The societal systems we’ve relied on—economic, environmental, political, and cultural—are buckling under the pressures of a rapidly evolving world. Unlike Y2K, a simple software fix won’t work. The transformation required is deeper, and the heart of our needed new systems is neither technological nor external. It’s human.

I Love Horses, But…

All systems have lifespans. Social, governmental, and economic systems all emerge to solve a particular problem. But then they plateau, stagnate, and eventually start creating more problems than they fix—like a horse and buggy on an interstate highway.

That’s where we are now. The big systems—economy, government, environment, you name it—are all creaking under the accelerating pace of change and an outdated model of dividing and conquering as the pathway to prosperity and power. No amount of duct tape is going to hold them together forever.

Fun fact: you’re a system built for another time, too.

Like those external systems, your internal system—your thoughts, habits, and beliefs—was built to survive a specific set of circumstances and to look to the familiar, now crumbling, external world for validation and truth.

We’re also each a system within systems. The interplay of your internal thoughts, emotions, habits, and energy interacts constantly with the systems around you: family, community, society, and the planet.

When the world and systems around you no longer work or respond the way you’re used to, your learned “operating system” can glitch out, too. You may feel this yourself in rising stress levels and see it in the rise of division and seemingly random violence on the news.

The trick isn’t to double down on old programming or pour yourself an extra glass (or three!) of wine; the chaos of systems collapse is an invitation to rewrite your reality to help you thrive in the emerging world—and to plant the seeds of our new collective reality.

Reset Your Internal System by Reconnecting with Your Quantum Self

In times of upheaval, when external systems are no longer reliable or trustworthy, it magnifies the need to trust yourself. Not the thoughts, emotions, beliefs. and assumptions of your divide-and-conquer conditioned self, but what I’ll call your quantum self. This intuitive, expansive core of your being is always available. It always has been, but few of us have been taught to go within for the wisdom to navigate life. It’s always “this new product” or “that new influencer” that has the answer.

Think of your quantum self as the non-physical, non-local part of you that’s plugged into the quantum field—the energetic web that connects all of existence. Call it your higher self, soul, or inner GPS; it looks at you, your life, and all of life as both whole and interconnected systems. Its job is to guide you toward a state of wholeness and possibility both as an individual system and a part of the systems you’re embedded in.

Unlike noisy, urgent, divide-and-conquer conditioned thoughts and beliefs that replay old stories, trigger nervous system patterns, or keep you obsessed over a future that may never materialize, the quantum self is quiet, subtle, operates in the now, and from the perspective of wholeness.

Seems simple, but we’re so accustomed to the blaring siren song of daily life that it can be hard to hear the quiet nudge of the quantum voice that says, “Hey, pay attention to this.”

But when we ignore our quantum nature, we miss out on the intuition, insight, and connection it provides.

Learning to tap into this part of ourselves is the key to developing self-trust in a time of untrustworthy systems and reimagining our lives, families, and communities as systems of abundant, mutual support. Building rapport with our own quantum nature helps us conceive of larger, even global systems, that start with the premise of wholeness and connection rather than division, conquest, and control.

Reconnecting With Your Quantum Nature

Your quantum self is easiest to recognize in moments when you feel deeply present and connected with something larger than yourself. To reconnect, grab your journal and use the prompts below to help you reflect on experiences that have brought you into that state:

• When was the last time I felt completely in the moment? Think about those times when everything else fell away—whether you were watching a sunrise, hiking through the woods, or having a heart-to-heart with your dog.

• Have I ever felt a sense of expansion, as if I was connected to something greater? Maybe it was during the birth of a child, a breathtaking moment in nature, or even while laughing with friends until your cheeks hurt.

• What activities or settings help me feel this way? Walking barefoot in the grass? Dancing in the kitchen? Lying on your back and watching the stars?

Once you’ve identified these experiences, ask yourself:

• How can I invite more of these moments into my daily life? Dive deep into this and then make it a point to prioritize these activities, no matter how small they seem. These are your entry points to the quantum field.

A Call to Quantum Adventure

As we move into 2025, the opportunity to rewrite our personal and collective reality has never been more tangible. Not by fixing what’s broken but by imagining and building something entirely new.

To build systems that allow global thriving, we must first learn to thrive as individual systems. To conceive of ourselves as whole beings that are interconnected with whole systems. The chaos of the now gives us an unparalleled opportunity to move beyond zero-sum thinking and a fear-activated nervous system and embrace a future where thriving is the norm, not the exception.

It starts with you and me and our willingness to dismantle old inner systems based on division, fear, and lack. To live from a place of alignment, intuition, wholeness, and our quantum nature. To plant the seeds of systems that honor the interconnectedness of all things—systems that are as dynamic, resilient, and abundant as life itself.

Are you ready to step into this adventure?

Adventure is more fun with friends! If this post resonated with you, share it with a friend—especially someone you’d like to join you on this journey.

You can even share this post on social media using the share button below or copy/pasting this link: https://kristinemadera.substack.com/p/fixing-broken-systems-isnt-enough-reimagine-them

Thanks for sharing and growing a community of beautiful beings rewriting their own reality in a way that inspires our collective reality to embrace a magnificent future for all.

Peace, Kristine

PS—Need a little escape from so-called “real” life? Check out my novel God in Drag and/or read the first chapter for free!

Yours truly in Papua New Guinea, WAY before cell phone cameras!