No matter how blessed your life may be, you’ll never be free from uncertainty. To live is to be uncertain. Even with the best-laid plans, you can’t know what’s coming next.
If that’s the case, you have two choices – you can fret and worry about the uncertainty, or you can embrace it. If you want to be the type of person who embraces uncertainty, then follow the tips below.
Acknowledge your uncertainty. Acknowledging uncertainty is the first step toward embracing it. You need to acknowledge that life is full of uncertainty and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Once you’ve accepted that universal truth, you can focus on embracing uncertainty.
Reframe uncertainty as excitement. Yes, it can be scary when you don’t know what’s going to happen next. But guess what?
Not knowing what’s next can be exciting too! Your future is full of opportunity. What new adventures and discoveries await you?
Embrace the excitement of the unknown.
Remember, you can handle it. Never forget that you’re a strong, capable person who can handle anything that comes your way.
Life is full of trials and tribulations. Who better to conquer them than you?
Focus on building your self-confidence and you’ll notice the fear of uncertainty begin to slip away.
Embrace imperfection. You can try your very best but not everything will work out exactly the way you want. That’s okay.
By letting go of perfection, you free yourself from worrying about everything going exactly right. Obviously, it’s great when things work out, but sometimes life’s most rewarding experiences happen when things don’t go the way you expected they would.
Prepare for different outcomes. One way to deal with uncertainty is to be as prepared as possible for it. An easy way to do that is to prepare for different outcomes.
You can’t possibly plan the outcome for every situation, but that’s okay. If you just focus on the most likely outcomes, you will feel much surer of yourself.
Focus on the things you can control. A large part of our lives is simply out of our control. That can be an overwhelming feeling for some people. If you’re feeling this way, try to focus on the things you can control. This will help you feel more in control.
You can’t change the things that are out of your control, so why waste energy trying?
Live in the present. Sometimes we struggle living in the present. We shouldn’t be taking life for granted, but all too often we fret about the future or obsess over the past. When we live in the moment, we get to truly enjoy our experiences.
As a bonus, focusing on the present is a great way to stop worrying about the uncertainty of the future.
Remember everything you have. While you’re worrying about the uncertainty of the future, don’t forget to reflect on the past. All your past experiences were once an uncertainty, after all.
Take stock of all the great things you have in your life. Appreciate where you’ve come from. You’ll worry less about the future when you recognize just how far you’ve come.
Welcome failure. One of the biggest reasons we fear uncertainty is because we’re scared of failing in some way. But failure is nothing to be feared!
Failure is nothing more than a lesson learned. The lesson may be painful but it’s almost always impactful. If you look at failure as a normal part of your journey, you’ll feel much more comfortable with uncertainty.
Actionable steps
- Take some time to brainstorm all the things in your life you’re uncertain about. Don’t worry about any wrong answers; just jot down everything that comes to mind.
- Now look at this list and pinpoint the three to five things you feel most uncertain about. Focus on choosing things that you worry about most often.
- Think about the most likely outcomes for each choice and make action plans for how you’ll deal with them. You’ll be surprised how much better you feel after this.
Further reading
- Thriving Through Uncertainty
- The Art of Uncertainty
- Comfortable with Uncertainty
- Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance
- Embracing Uncertainty
Faith Wood is a novelist and professional speaker who focuses on helping groups and individuals navigate conflict, shift perceptions and improve communications. For interview requests, click here.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the authors’ alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
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