How To Navigate Common Uncertainties

Having uncertainty can eat us alive. It is human nature to want to know, as we crave security, guarantees, and answers. Whether it be short term worries of not knowing how much longer you are going to be stuck in traffic, or long term issues such as not knowing what you want to do with your life.

Commonality in Anxiety

We are living in uncertain times. No one has any idea when the coronavirus pandemic will end. People worry “what happens if I get sick?” Many different vaccine trials are in the works, but it is still too early to tell whether they will be both effective and safe. Everything is on hold, with important events that people look forward to years in advance such as wedding celebrations being postponed for the time being. 

Job security and financial security has been another worry during this time, with many getting laid off because they are not considered essential workers. After almost eight months of living under these conditions, we still know very little about our situation and what the future is going to look like. Calling our situation “the new normal” doesn’t make it feel any better.

For many of us, we are uncertain about what major to pursue in college. Currently as a freshmen, I am extremely worried about my major choice. I know I’ve mentally changed my major about five times (no, I’m not joking, commitment is hard). Sometimes, I doubt my abilities, thinking that I’m not capable of taking the hard science classes like biology and chemistry.

While I have concern about my academic abilities, I am also uncertain if my major will lead to me having a successful and well-paying career in the future. The world is changing everyday, skills that were useful 10 years ago may not be needed 20 years from now. The opposite may also be true. People always need to be on their feet and display flexibility, but I’m worried that I won’t have those skills that employers will want. After constant comparison to my friends, who are engineering or computer science majors, I have felt even more uncertain about my future: they know directly what they want to pursue out of college, and here I am still weighing my options.

As college studenst right now, we are at crossroads; the intersection of being supported by your parents and being an independent adult. It suddenly feels like we are tasked with understanding everything there is to know about the world overnight. Yes, we need to know more than just being able to feed ourselves or do our own laundry, but all the uncertainties can add up over time. It definitely can get overwhelming trying to deal with them all at once. My advice is to tackle them one by one.

How to Navigate these Uncertainties and Worries —-the right way!

1. Decide whether the issue that you’re uncertain about is something that will affect you a year from now, and if not the case, then drop the worry. There is no point in clouding your mind with small uncertainties.

2. Use your anxiety to motivate you to seek answers and learn more about your given situation. No problem that you put your mind to can’t be solved. Sometimes a little bit of worry can adapt your behaviors to reducing the threat of uncertainty. 

3. Talk to a family member or friend. If you talk to someone who is your age, you might find that you both share the same worries and you can work on tackling them together. If you talk to family, maybe they have dealt with the same issue in the past and can offer advice.

4. Focus on controlling the things that you can control; doing so will reduce your anxiety and allow you to devote time to the things that really matter. By focusing on what’s under your control, you’ll learn to excel at calming other stresses in your life. 

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