087: Embracing Uncertainty in Your Life

We’ve all been there at one time or another: stuck in limbo. The unknown is a frightening place to be, and can leave you feeling powerless, defeated, and helpless.  How do we develop the life skills to navigate through the unknown? How do we maintain control in a completely undefined environment? Do these unusual conditions which possibly lie ahead occupy your headspace often? Our brain has a negativity bias which is tricky to manage, coping with unanticipated events is difficult enough without our brain compounding and amplifying the worst possible imaginable scenario. The equivalent of Google searching what a pain in your left-hand pinky could mean and assuming you have a fatal, terminal disease based off a WebMD generalization.  Quote: “I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment, and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.” – Gilda Radner Delicious ambiguity . . . PERFECT! Life is about the journey, not the destination. You’ve heard it a million times. We struggle to understand WHY certain events take place in our live, till weeks, months or years later it all seems so clear.  Uncertainty is not “bad” in itself; it’s our tolerance of the unknown that defines our reaction and the ensuing impact on our life. The best way to deal with ambiguity is to build up your tolerance. Here are FOUR ways to accomplish this. 1. Change Your Expectation to PLANS! 2. Boost Your EMOTIONAL Intelligence 3. Become MORE Flexible and Adaptable 4. Preemptively Practice Meditation and Mindfulness Learning to live with uncertainty is one of the great challenges of life. By no means is this a simple challenge, but it’s essential to conquer in order to living a fulfilled, stress free life.  Welcome novelty and thrill which go hand and hand with uncertainty by asserting your belief to move through it with ease. The key takeaway is to reveal yourself to the unknown, the random uncertainty of life, by building up a tolerance to it.  Life is chock-full of uncertainty; we’ve just got to learn to live with it. Take advantage of the unknown. Plan for the unknown. Embrace the unknown. https://mruddo.com