Over the last two years, the world has been filled with uncertainty hasn’t it? I’d say that we’ve got used to living day to day but have we really? And each time it feels like some semblance of normality is returning, it’s ripped out of our grasp…yet again. The world’s gone mad! I’m being a little melodramatic here, but you know where I’m coming from, right?
How well do you deal with uncertainty?
Truth be told, some of us deal with uncertainty better than others. You know? Some people are quite ‘chill’ and just brush off uncertainty, and then there are those of us who have a tendency to feel anxious and whom feel really quite unsettled during periods of uncertainty.
The reality
Despite there being so much uncertainty in the world right now, the reality is that uncertainty is actually the norm. It’s just that the degree of uncertainty has gone off the charts! In truth, no vision of the future is ever entirely accurate. A very difficult truth for many people, because uncertainty breeds anxiety and fear.
Why does this happen?
It all boils down to human evolution; we have become conditioned by trying to predict the future, in order to keep us safe. Life just feels safer when you know what obstacles are going to arise, so you can take action and prevent catastrophe.
What are the potential problems of avoidance?
But, what happens when your brain can no longer prevent catastrophe? The simple answer is ‘it struggles’.
And because it doesn’t know what it to, it does what it knows best (or should we say, it does ‘what it knows that works’? So, it sounds the alarm bells and causes us to be hypervigilant, constantly on the lookout for danger. However, if you don’t attend to this alarm, it simply continues sounding, causing a constant fear of anything that could be a threat. When this happens, anxiety can overwhelm us and cause us to make decisions that lead to us avoiding certain situations.
However, when our actions lead to a certain (bad) situation arising, we can develop a negativity bias. This can result in us taking safety behaviours, which further distort our thinking patterns – fueling the thoughts and behaviours.
Even worse, when this pattern of avoiding things becomes extreme and pervasive, this may suggest that a person has Avoidant Personality Disorder – an anxious personality disorder that impacts almost every facet of life. This is outside the scope of clinical hypnotherapy and is mentioned simply to stress the potential seriousness of developing a pattern of avoidant behaviour.
How do you even start to deal with uncertainty?
In short, dealing with uncertainty is mainly about being aware of it, and reframing. away was that coping with uncertainty is largely about self-awareness and reframing. A process which starts with recognising your emotions.
An emotion wheel – from https://blog.calm.com/blog/the-feelings-wheel
So, how can you recognise your emotions, if you don’t know where to start? Well, it can be useful to use a tool such as an ‘emotion wheel‘, which helps to put words to emotions. This is important because, we can name our emotion, we can begin to recognise it, acknowledge it – and then tackle our reaction to it.
This is important because, over time, we can learn to successfully re-wire our brain, thereby processing those unwanted emotions. Because once we can identify the negative emotions, we can become more balanced in our thinking style – moving away from negative outcomes.
So how can I deal with uncertainty?
When it comes to actually dealing with uncertainty, there are a few things you can do, to feel better about it:
1. Use uncertainty to learn
When we’re in an uncertain state, we have a tendency to want to shut down but, if we can open up instead, it’s a great opportunity to grow and learn from the experience.
2. Connect with others
We often have better resilience when we work as a team or member of a community, so it makes perfect sense to put time and energy into connecting with others.
3. Get to know what fear feels like, to you
When we understand what triggers our fear, and when we consciously acknowledge it, we receive the opportunity to master it. It’s always worth remembering that fear is just a suggestion, not a fact.
4. Start small
It takes practice to turn anxiety from uncertainty, into an opportunity to change and improve your reslience to uncertainty. Furthermore, it can be really difficult and exhausting to do this at the beginning but, with practice, it really does get easier. So, start small and work your way up.
5. Understand that nothing lasts forever
Regardless of whether we manage to deal with our unwanted emotions successfully, nothing lasts forever, so a person can at least find solace in that – however difficult it may be.
6.Enjoy the journey
It may sound rather trite to say that we don’t always need to see the destination to enjoy the journey, but understanding the truth in this can be very liberating. So keep focusing on the next step forward and eventually, you will be where you need (and want) to be.
7. Journal or practice gratitude
Learning techniques such as journalling gratitude and simple breathing helps you gain control.
8. Practice mindfulness
Practising mindfulness improves emotional and physical well-being, resulting in more resilience to stress caused by uncertainty.
Next steps
We offer hypnotherapy both online and face to face, as well as in your own home, if you’re a blue badge holder living within approx’ 10 miles of WF14 9ED.
To book, just send us your availability over the next 10 to 14 days and we’ll set up an initial consultation, to see how we can help you move on with your life:
- Use our online contact form.
- Via text/SMS to 07808 931714 if you’re inside the UK, or +44 7808 931714 if you’re outside the UK.
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About us
We are Hypnotic Universe (formerly Mirfield Hypnotherapy Centre) and we help you use the power of your own mind to achieve your goals, and live the life that you want.
Disclaimer
We do our best to provide suggestions based on our experience as hypnotherapists and using nationally recognised good quality health education material, such as that provided by the NHS (UK). Information contained on our site does not constitute medical advice and is not intended to replace medical advice. You should speak to your doctor about any health concerns that you have and before making any radical changes to your lifestyle and health and fitness goals, including your quest to reach those goals.
Glossary
View our glossary for an explanation of terms used in this article.
