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Living with Uncertainty
Certainty, one of our basic human needs, can be so elusive. How can we cope with unpredictability?
Why do we need certainty?
Certainty is a sense of comfort and safety. We love having confidence in relationships, work, family, money and the world. We crave peace of mind and stability.
Humans want and need a level of comfort and safety. When we miss this sense of well-being, our stress and anxiety levels rise, cortisol levels go up, sleep and mood are affected, relationships can become strained and more.
But, what if we can’t get certainty?
There are really only a few things we can be certain about:
“The only thing certain in life is death and taxes”.
I would add change to this. You can be certain that things will change in your life. Your future won’t look exactly as you planned. Things will always change. The universe is chaotic and everything moves toward chaos. Random events will happen. Nothing can be predicted with absolute certainty.
Sometimes we can delude ourselves with all our routines, structures and planning that we actually have control over our lives. But life has a way of waking us up to reality(Hello Covid!).
