Dealing With Uncertainty
It’s 6 am on a warm Saturday morning, and I am looking at the tiny specks of clouds drifting across my window. Within 15 minutes, the clouds that I see now will be replaced by another set of clouds — similar, yet not the same ones.
Law of nature. Life constantly keeps moving, shifting, and changing and it is only when we look back, we realize how much has changed.
Sometimes, it is the big changes — a promotion, a city or job change, moving countries, having kids. But many times, it's the small changes — trying a new hobby, upskilling yourself, learning how to cook something new, that has the potential to change the way life looks.
Ok, so the world is constantly changing. Life is changing with the small and big changes. And we are (hopefully for the better), changing too.
We still don’t like change. Nobody does.
Why?
If there’s so much change around us, we should’ve been used to it by now, isn’t it?
But any new change — brings excitement and fear. Sometimes a lot of fear.
Change is not easy. Uncertainty can feel very risky.
And everyone has a different “risk appetite”. Some people thrive in uncertain work environments. Others need stability.
Socrates said: “To be uncertain is to be uncomfortable, but to be certain is to be ridiculous.”
In 2013, I quit my “stable” corporate job without knowing what I was going to do next. That was a hugely risky career move — but I was bored of doing what I was doing.
In the last ten years, I have taken many more risks. Worked with start-ups, wrote and edited some academic books, started my art business, homeschooled my daughter, and learned so much more about and around content and marketing.
I often wonder, what would have happened if I had stuck to that job ( or any other). I would’ve been richer— financially, maybe. But I would've probably never known the other stuff. The stuff that has made my life richer.
Taking uncertainty head-on has not been easy with respect to my career but I have constantly asked myself the question: What’s the worst that can happen?
I don't recommend taking such risky career moves. Everyone has a different relationship with how much discomfort they can take. In the last ten years, while I have no regrets about leaving that particular job, I have questioned my choices a million times.
If the pandemic has taught us one thing, it is that nothing is certain in this world. The world as we know it, can change overnight — and we may have very little control over it.
And in the face of uncertainty, the things that have helped keep anxieties at bay, have been:
- Doing something that leads to mindfulness. Or being in the present. For some people, it may be writing or going for walks. For some, being in nature is very calming. For me, it has been painting with watercolors.
- Understanding that you are worried or anxious about something. Questioning deeply and understanding what it is about that particular change or situation that makes you feel that way.
- Bringing back the focus on things that are still certain. For example, when I quit in 2013, I did not know what I would do with my time. In the three months that I was at home, I wrote a book about Retail Marketing, taught English to kids in an NGO, and started taking reasoning classes at home for some kids in my society. What was certain for me was — I knew I wanted to add value.
- Taking care of the basics. Sleep. Exercise. Read. Getting sunlight and fresh air.
- Talking to someone. A friend, a parent, a partner, a therapist. Talking helps focus on the exact cause or belief behind the worry.
And to always know that it’s a box.
Life and our perspective of how life should be — is a box. A box largely shaped by the workings of a capitalistic society. A box shaped by the hopes of our parents and the journeys of our peers.
Sometimes — when we take risks, change lanes or deal with uncertainty — the box shifts. It can still be a nice box, it has just shifted.
