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Accepting Uncertainty - Tips and Tricks

In today's society, it may feel daunting, hopeless and scary. This can be from current financial issues, political views or general worries. We may be unsure of what will happen when we are faced with circumstances that seem overpowering or uncontrollable. It can be challenging, frustrating, and stressful.


We worry, or ponder a lot about the problem, in an attempt to handle unpredictability. When faced with uncertainty, worrying entails making an effort to be ready for any scenario. We accomplish this by considering all relevant perspectives. However, worrying frequently makes us feel worse.


What happens when we worry too much?

Our mental health may be impacted by worrying about situations that are out of our control. We begin to stress and overanalyse the situation when there is ambiguity. This may lessen our level of contentment and enjoyment in life.


This might present like:


• Discover that we experience anxiety most of the time;

• Find it difficult to unwind or enjoy activities we usually enjoy;

• Have trouble falling asleep or focusing.


These emotions can turn into worry or depression if they persist for a long period.

Our physical health might be impacted by feeling anxious and stressed. Some of us may develop chronic high blood pressure or irritable bowel syndrome over time.


How can we start accepting uncertainty?

To start accepting uncertainty, we can better manage feelings of worry and stress by:

Accepting that we will Understanding which parts of a face some uncertainty situation we have control over

We’re going to look at 3 strategies that can help:

1. We’ll look at how we can accept that we can’t avoid uncertainty in life.

2. We’ll introduce the Worry Decision Tree. This is a way of helping you plan actions to deal with whatever’s causing the worry.

3. We’ll explain how to manage worrying thoughts and appreciate the present.



Strategy 1


We can’t avoid some uncertainty

Although uncertainty can be hard to live with, we can’t get rid of it completely. When we try to control uncertainty by worrying, this can cause more problems than the uncertainty itself.

The following questions might help you bring these thoughts to the surface. Take your time to work through them on a blank sheet of paper.


  1. Can you handle some uncertainty with small things in life? Write down what these are.

  2. Think about bigger issues in life. Has certainty about the bigger issues been helpful to you?

  3. Has uncertainty ever been unhelpful to you, or caused you problems? Write down the problems it has caused.

  4. When you worry about uncertain outcomes, do you focus more on the negative ideas?

  5. When you worry about these as worst-case scenarios, do they mostly happen, or rarely happen?

  6. In these situations, are the real-life outcomes usually better than the outcomes you were worried about?

  7. Would you have wanted to spend as much time worrying about negative outcomes as you did? Think about what you’d prefer to have done instead.

  8. Think about the small things you identified in question 1 – in these situations, you can handle some uncertainty. Would it help if you could handle bigger uncertainties in the same way?

  9. What lessons could you learn from accepting small things that you could use for the bigger things?

  10. Choose someone you trust who seems to worry less about uncertain situations. Ask them how they do this. Can you learn anything from them?


Strategy 2


The Worry Decision Tree

To help us decide if we can do something about our issue, we can try using the Worry Decision Tree. This tool teaches us how to let go of worry.

Some of us find that it helps to plan our actions so we can stop worrying and move on. The Worry Decision Tree involves just 3 questions to ask yourself.

What am I worrying about?

Is there anything I can do about this?

Is there anything I can do right now?

“There are 2 types of things not worth worrying about: those that you can do something about, and those that you can’t.”


Strategy 3


Appreciating the present moment

We can spend a lot of time worrying about things that might happen – especially things that are out of our control. But when we spend so much time thinking about possibilities, we stop appreciating what’s happening right now.


N.O.T.I.C.E.

Use N.O.T.I.C.E. to help you remember this strategy. It aims to help you improve feelings of stress or anxiety.

Notice you’re experiencing stress or anxiety and take a moment to pause. Only focus on your breathing for a few minutes.

Try to observe your thoughts, feelings and the way they’re affecting your body. Is it possible to zoom out and observe the situation from an outside perspective?

Can you respond to this situation in a different way? Think about what you could do. Erase the anxiety after following the steps above.


P.O.W.E.R.

This set of 5 steps may help if you’re starting to worry about something out of your control. If this happens, using P.O.W.E.R. might bring your thoughts back to the present.

Pause your thought process and relax.Observe your breathing while allowing your thoughts and feelings to simply exist.

Weigh up your options – if you were giving advice, what would you suggest?

Experience your suggested advice, but try it out with only a small step at first.

Review whether your small step worked. What was most helpful? What would you do next time?

You might find it useful to read our resources on Using P.O.W.E.R. and Mindfulness. Just ask your practitioner if you don’t already have copies.








*Tips and tricks taken from the charity Mind. I do not own or claim to own these but are used as a guide to help.

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