4 Simple Questions That Help Me Cope With Uncertainty

I’m not a control freak. Well, I wouldn’t call myself that.

I’m not a control freak. Well, I wouldn’t call myself that.

I simply like to know what’s coming, what I’m going to do next, and what to expect at every given moment. 😂

If you think about it, that probably describes you too. Or probably not.🤷🏽‍♀️

What I do know is nothing (okay, very little) in my life has worked the way I planned it.

• I didn’t get the jobs I thought I’d land.
• I didn’t sell the number of books I wanted.
• I didn’t have the kids I wanted when I wanted them etc.

Slowly but surely, I realized my life was one big mass of uncertainty, and my body held all the tension. I was always holding my breath (well, probably just sucking in my belly but that’s neither here nor there 😏) and even grinding my teeth in my sleep.

In other words, I was fighting it kicking and screaming.

These days I’m asking myself lots of questions.

1. Why do I have to know what’s coming?

Simple, I like a well-planned life. I like the assurance of knowing I won’t be scrambling trying to figure out a situation I was not prepared for.

2. So? What happens when I’m handed a curve ball?

Well, I get flustered and I look like I don’t know what I’m doing

3. Who cares if I’m forced to learn or adjust on the go?

I care.

Some people might care? Maybe see me as not competent or not having got my life together? 🙄

4. What can I change?

Why I care. And what I care about.

I care to live a good healthy life. And if fighting uncertainty always leaves me on edge, carrying around burdens and tensions that don’t serve me, I can do something about that.

I care about getting positive results from all my life experiences, so if what I’ve been doing so far isn’t getting me those results, time to change my perspective.

And that’s just what I’m doing. Navigating life. Making sense of the twists and turns and learning to go with the flow instead of fighting it every time.

P.S. A few minutes before writing this piece, I sat down to write about another topic and was growing frustrated that I couldn’t gather my thoughts well enough to get anything on the page. I started to fight it. Then I remembered I could just go with the flow. So here I am. Taking my own advice

Curious. Do you ever find yourself fighting the turn of events in your life? How do you cope with that?

Thanks to Donnette Anglin who inspired me to join Reciprocal with her article on how spreading the love in contagious.

And Yana Bostongirl, who has been so generous with her work, time and responses since I started back on Medium.

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