Managing uncertainty
As humans, our brains like familiarity. It allows us to create patterns and connections that provide a structure by which we can make sense of the world. When uncertainty arises, as it always will, our brains try desperately to pair the incoming information from our environment with our collection of memories to find any familiar link between the current stimulus and our past experiences. But because of this new, unknown stressor, our brain’s pattern-making process sometimes can lead to oversimplification or faulty thinking coming out, such as unchecked biases or cognitive distortions. Other times, it simply signals a fear response – an alarm against the unknown – and activates our sympathetic nervous system, triggering a release of cortisol and adrenaline and initiating what’s commonly known as our flight, fight, or freeze modes.
Uncertainty has always been a part of life, but for several different reasons, it’s especially prevalent today. Understanding our brain’s tendencies in response to uncertainty is an important part of learning how to interrupt old patterns and build in new, adaptive responses as we navigate these times. Below I will outline some common, habitual responses to uncertainty, followed by some alternate ways to train your brain and body to move through the unknown more effectively.
Common Response: Catastrophizing – Uncertainty implies that you don’t have all the information you desire. Therefore, your brain tries to fill in the gaps, often by thinking of worst-case scenarios, in effort to get ahead of the fear you may feel around uncertainty.
What to Do Instead:
Regulate your body, first and foremost, by bringing it back to the present moment. This is important because it signals your immediate safety which is necessary for the higher order functioning parts of your brain, like the pre-frontal cortex, to come back “online” and do what it does best -- plan, problem solve, think critically. Some simple ways to regulate your body are through:
Breathing: try breathing in, counting to four, hold counting to seven, and exhale, counting to eight. Repeat at least three times to help activate your parasympathetic nervous system
Grounding your body in the present by noticing five things you see, four things you hear, three things you smell, two things you can touch, and one thing you can taste. Repeat if necessary or focus on one sense if that’s simpler.
Move your body - exercise has pretty powerful impacts on our mood regulation.
Call out your catastrophic thoughts by NAMING them for what they are and then asking yourself, “how true is this thought given the evidence at hand? And is there a more rational way to view this?” This allows us to move forward in productive ways as opposed to getting lost in the directions these distortions can take us. Thank your brain for trying to protect you, but let it know that you’ve got this.
Plan purposefully for how you would cope if the worst case happened. What do you need, internally and externally to navigate this? Because you can if you have to. We’re often more resilient than we realize.
Common Response: Worrying – Worry is a habitual mental response to stimuli in our environment that signal discomfort or stress. It gives the allusion that we’re doing something about a problem when, in reality, it’s only providing a false sense of relief from the fear we may feel around uncertainty. This immediate relief creates a reward system in our brain, reinforcing an unhelpful worry habit loop: feeling fearful or anxious about the uncertainty 🡪 worrying about the uncertainty to avoid underlying feeling of fear (tricking brain that you’re “doing” something) 🡪 temporary relief from feeling the fear/anxiety 🡪 feelings of anxiety increase next time we notice, think about, experience uncertainty.
What to Do Instead:
Replace your worry response to uncomfortable feelings, like fear and anxiety, by regulating your emotions through the use of RAINN:
R- Recognize what emotion(s) is coming for you - put a name to it.
A – Accept what is coming up for you in the moment. Often our suffering/stress is extended or heightened as a result of the judgment we have in response to our initial emotional reaction. By accepting what we’re feeling, we can figure out an effective way to move through it as opposed to avoid it.
I – Investigate why this emotion is showing up in the moment. Ask yourself, what else may be underneath it? What is going on around you that may be contributing to how you’re feeling?
N – Non-identify with the emotion. This is simply a reminder that what you’re feeling in the moment is a piece of data to consider, not the whole story so you don’t have to be consumed by it.
N – Now what? Ask you this question to figure out how you want to move forward, given the information above. Approach this from a place of curiosity and compassion.
Schedule in your worry time. Yes, you read that correctly. I’m asking you to do the very thing you want to stop. But the catch is you can only do it during at a specific time of day for a specific amount of time. For the next week at 5pm, for 30 minutes, you’re going to let your mind worry all it wants, take you down whatever rabbit hole it desires. BUT outside of that prescribed time, when your worry thoughts show up, acknowledge but don’t follow them. Let them know you’ll make time for them tonight at 5 and then return to the task at hand.
Common Response: Numbing or Avoiding – Our current culture of instant gratification, abundance, and easy access to comfort and the things we crave makes this response easier than it’s ever been. And as a result, this is often one of the hardest to shift away from, but with practice and intention it’s possible. As you deliberately move away from your normal numbing behaviors and learn to act opposite to your urge to escape discomfort or let go of your resistance around feeling the anxiety triggered by uncertainty, you’ll see that, over time, it becomes easier to manage. Numbing only reinforces a false belief that you must escape the discomfort quickly because you can’t handle it. But trust me. With practice, you can!
What to Do Instead:
Practice SIFTING and Soothing - Ride the wave of the discomfort you feel in response to uncertainty by paying attention in the present moment, on purpose, and without judgment. You can do this by simply SIFTING through the discomfort:
S - Sensations: notice the physiological sensations that you’re experiencing (label these without attributing labels of good or bad to them; simply notice them as your body preparing you for the moment.
I - Images: Recognize images that may be coming up for you in response to this discomfort. If you don’t have any, no problem… simply move on.
F - Feelings: Notice and name the feeling(s) coming up for you in this moment. Similar to sensations, resist the urge to label these as good or bad, right or wrong - they simply are information that we can use to decide how we want to proceed.
T - Thoughts: Recognize the quality of your thoughts. Are you falling into all or nothing or catastrophic thinking? Or are you viewing this situation with perspective and clarity?
Then, once you’ve SIFT-ed you can move on to soothing any discomfort that may still be there through self-regulation and grounding skills, like: journaling, walking/running, or connecting with a trusted other.
Do something for someone else. Stress heightens our awareness of our own struggles, creating a tunnel vision that is often suffocating, even if we don’t realize it. Step outside of yourself by helping those around you.
These are just a handful of tools we can use to manage our unhelpful reactions to the discomfort we experience when faced with uncertainty. Pick one or two that resonate and start there to see if there is an impact, but don’t forget to continue to care for the basics by tending to your sleep, connections with others, sense of purpose and meaning, nutrition, exercise, and overall stress management. These pillars of self-care provide a solid foundation from which to tackle the most challenging stressors we're facing today. Take care and reach out if you have questions.