Dealing With Uncertainty

Before we talk about dealing with uncertainty, I would like you to take a moment and remember when you were young. Do you remember the fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella? They all have a beginning, a middle, and an end — but what happens after that? Uncertainty. What happens once Little Red Riding Hood leaves the safety of her grandmother’s house?

Uncertainty doesn’t mean bad or scary; it means not knowing what will happen next. In these fairy tales, there is comfort in knowing how they’ll turn out. In real life, that’s not the case.

Uncertainty is commonplace in real life because things are constantly changing. Uncertainty can be challenging to deal with sometimes because it often brings anxiety, fear, and stress along with it. I will give you some tips on how to deal with this uncertainty while still being able to live your everyday life.

Dealing with Uncertainty

There are few instances where certainty exists in day-to-day life — everything else is simply uncertain. For example, what if you were asked to flip a coin? Would you go for heads or tails? The chances are that you wouldn’t know which one would win, so there’s no way to allay any fears about the outcome.

Uncertainty is a constant companion in everyday life, but it can be dealt with. The anxiety that attaches itself to uncertainty increases in proportion to the perceived risk of the possible outcome. If the result is either heads or tails in the flip of a coin, the uncertainty has a low-risk outcome. However, if you had bet $10,000 on the outcome of heads, your anxiety over the outcome would increase considerably.

Uncertainty doesn’t have to cause anxiety or fear because there are ways to limit the chaos that often accompanies it.

• Uncertainty leaves us no choice but to face whatever comes next head-on. We will deal better with uncertainty if we learn first to accept that it exists. Trying to pretend that it doesn’t or wishing it doesn’t will only cause stress.
• Accept that you cannot control uncertainty. It would be nice if we could, but we cannot as it is out of our control.
  • Worrying about what might happen will heighten your stress levels. Allowing this to consume you will take away from the enjoyment of life.
  • Uncertainty will happen at some point in life
• You can manage uncertainty by keeping an open mind and constantly adapting when needed.
• What can you do now that will put you in a better position in the future?
  • Focus on what you can do now. How can you reduce the risk that you face in the future?
  • Now is the only point in time that you can change things. Worry and anxiety mean that you are focusing on the future.

Summary – Dealing with Uncertainty

Uncertainty isn’t pleasant to think about because nobody knows for sure what’s going to happen next. But it’s real and cannot be directly controlled. However, if you focus on what you can do now and reduce your risk moving forward, you can start turning the tables on uncertainty.