FEAR OF UNCERTAINTY

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-18 02:26

Surprises and uncertainties lie in wait for us at every corner.

We are faced with uncertainty in all areas of life: public, professional, family, personal.

And more often than not, surprises cause us stress, anxiety and fear. And these are natural reactions, since for the most part we are all people of habit, and we love when everything is clear and predictable.

Research shows that people respond differently to uncertainty, and that people with a higher intolerance to uncertainty may be less resilient and more prone to bad moods, negative or depressed feelings, and anxiety (American Psychological Association).

So what do you do? How to develop resilience to uncertainty and overcome stress associated with it?

From an existential point of view, according to the theory of fundamental motivations by Alfried Langle, in order to gain stability, we need protection, safe space and support (1FM “Ability to be”).

Protection. What does protection give you? How secure do you feel in life? Where does this protection come from? Who has protected you in the past? Who is protecting now? How can you defend yourself better?

Physical protection, safety and psychological protection are both important. Psychological protection is about reliable good relationships with others, connections with people you can trust, who are close to you. It is also a sense of self-worth, that you can understand and accept yourself, believe in yourself.

Safe space … Where in your life is your protected space, both physical and emotional?

A safe space is a space where you can be well present, both in outer and inner life. From the point of view of external life, this is a room, apartment or room where you feel good, where you can just be and feel safe. From the point of view of inner life, the first space in relation to oneself is the body. Can you feel good in your body? How do you find yourself in your inner space? What is it like? And also, this is a space for relationships with friends, family, colleagues.

Supports. What do you rely on in your life and what can you rely on in your life? What gives you support in life? Who and who can you trust?

It is very important for a person to find support in life in order to have the strength to endure. For gaining support, the key becomes trust - in yourself, in others, in the world. Trust is built where there is solid ground underfoot.

By answering these questions, gaining protection, space and support, we can withstand and be able to face uncertainty and stress. Even if we do not like the situation, and we do not want to be in it, we can be stable in it and be able to withstand it.

No one can avoid the unexpected in our life. But we can be more prepared for such situations.

American Psychological Association (APA), offers 10 tips for dealing with the stress of uncertainty:

1. Be kind and patient with yourself. Self-compassion is about resilience.
2. Think about past successes, how you dealt with stressful situations in the past. Use this experience.
3. Develop new skills. Try new things, so you develop the habit of adapting to new situations faster.
4. Limit access to news. Compulsive news checking develops anxiety. Try to watch the news only during the allotted limited time.
5. Don't get hung up on things you can't control.
6. Take your own advice. If a friend came to you with this problem, what would you advise?
7. Take care of yourself. Try to eat well, get enough sleep, and exercise.
8. Seek support from those you trust. Reach out to family and friends.
9. Control what you can. Establish an order of the day that will help you gain structure.
10. Ask for help. Professional psychologists help develop healthy ways to deal with the stress of uncertainty.

We can not always change something, but we can always strengthen our physical and mental stability.

The text uses materials from the American Psychological Association (APA) “The great unknown: 10 tips for dealing with the stress of uncertainty” (August 2020); open lecture by Alfried Langle "Uncertainty, fear and trust: existential themes in the mirror of the challenges of time" (05.11.20).