Navigating Uncertainty

It seems as if it is always there – that feeling of uncertainty, and the uncomfortable dread that comes with it.

As if something is coming – right around the corner - about to happen. Something that will change everything, shake up the status quo, create an unrecoverable upheaval. You don’t know what it is, yet you can feel it – unease.

Stress.

Worry.

You can’t place it, yet the feeling is there.

Ever present.

Unyielding.

And so goes the mind. Ceaselessly scanning toward finding the ‘what’ or ‘why.’

Ever scanning.

Exhaustingly scanning.

Only to find nothing. So, it turns to the ‘what ifs.’ Because that makes sense. If I cannot determine what the stress is, maybe I can explore the ‘what-ifs,’ to make a plan about what might be?  That seems to work – if only for a while - because you know the brain cannot possibly come up with every ‘what-if’ imaginable. Still we try. It’s sort of the controlled uncontrolled. Let’s face it, sometimes our brains prefer to race about the ‘what-if,’ rather than just race. It feels productive. Yet, that too, is exhausting.

So, the question becomes, ‘what to do?’ How do we navigate this ‘busy brain?’ When stressed, the brain needs to metaphorically run around, looking for the potential clues to solve the puzzle. Yet, do we explore the feelings, or do we examine the thoughts?

What if we embraced each? Our bodies are designed – through the gift of the limbic system in the brain – to notify us to ‘dangers.’ This notification happens literally in tenths of a second! Our brain responds to this notification by trying to figure out exactly what that ‘danger’ might be. If there appears to be no danger, our brains seek to reconcile that difference between how we feel, and how we are. In essence, the state of feeling versus the state of being.

What if we acknowledge the feeling, while recognizing that engaging with it, might not be necessary in this moment. What if we reframe our self-narrative to allow that our limbic system is working, for which we are thankful – and we can now go about our day focusing on something else, using a sensory focused tool, or mindfulness, or distraction. This redirection allows the limbic system to settle as it were. It takes a minute [actually a little longer than that] and it can come back if we engage the feeling again; however, the more we focus on our self-narrative, and redirect to some other thing through utilizing tools and strategies, the easier it will be to redirect these roller coaster thoughts.

Simple construct, not easy to do. Yet, our amazing brains have neuroplasticity, which means the more we do the thing; the easier it becomes to do the thing. Ever hear the phrase ‘practice makes perfect?’ There you go!

Of course, therapy can also assist with honing tools and strategies toward developing increased awareness regarding our self-narrative, and ways to gain greater understanding of the patterns which we might get into, which creates that cycle of feelings and thoughts.

So the next time you find yourself in a feeling of uncertainty, beginning to navigate that pattern of thinking, maybe take a step back, and explore your own self narrative. Scan your state of feeling and state of being. And take it from there.

 © 2025: Donna J Clarke/Integrative Pathways Counseling, LLC. All rights reserved.