Sharing – Intolerance of Uncertainty | How to Thrive in Ambiguity
A couple of weeks ago, I shared an article and some thoughts in the newsletter about how being stressed can make us easier to manipulate.
If you can push people to feel stressed all of the time, that fear and stress makes them extremely vulnerable because when we’re on the edge of our ability to cope, we’ll take whatever valve we can locate to lessen the stress. Whether that valve is true or not, if it makes us feel less stressed, we’re likely to welcome it.
The question, of course, is how do we cope with all the stress that life throws at us?
This article has some suggestions. We know that uncertainty causes stress. We know that feeling anxious about what might be coming makes us just as susceptible to being manipulated. How do we get better at accepting uncertainty and staying away from being manipulated?
First, understand how many of us, as survivors, start from a place where not knowing is dangerous.
People who grew up in unpredictable or emotionally inconsistent environments may have learned early on that “not knowing” meant danger, conflict, or instability.
Second, understand that there are some things you can do to get more resilient in facing uncertainty:
Coping with uncertainty begins with learning how to soothe the nervous system so the unknown doesn’t feel like an immediate threat.
It can be difficult to live in uncertain times. That old phrase, “May you live in interesting times,” is really more of a curse than a blessing. We can’t change the times we live in, and even if we could, there will always be uncertainty. We can, however, ground ourselves in the knowledge and confidence that we will, regardless, survive it.
There are not enough people with that confidence right now, and they’ve become not only easier to manipulate but also more likely to be unable to move forward, even when things are uncertain. We owe it to them to help them find that.
