Thanks, But We Don't Actually Need to 'Embrace' Uncertainty
I write to you from a time of great uncertainty.
Because... it's today**. And today is always a time of great uncertainty, whatever day it is. Because uncertainty is - in the words of mathematician John Allen Paulos - "the only certainty there is".
**{The particular uncertainty of today happens to include the frenetic media aftermath of the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump, reports about the Arctic warming 4x faster than the rest of world, Sicily turning away tourists for lack of water, Brazil wildfires and so forth. Huh}
But you know what we should do, according to the entire internet? We should be "embracing" all this uncertainty.
Here's a small selection of titles thrusting their way on to my feeds:
"How to Embrace Uncertainty" - "Embrace Uncertainty to Build Resilience" - "How Embracing Uncertainty Can Improve Your Life" - "Why Embracing Uncertainty Is Critical To Your Success" - "7 steps to Embracing Uncertainty"
Um, no.
Embracing is for treasured friends, cats, the bobble hat that was assumed to be lost forever and avocados that have finally come down in price after rudely hanging around the $4NZD (2.50 USD / 1.90 GBP) mark for many a month.
Why are we are told to 'embrace uncertainty'? Might it be an attempt to keep us calm and compliant and subtly reinforces the status quo by suggesting that acceptance and adaptation are virtuous responses to external challenges? Is 'embracing uncertainty' another benchmark for personal achievement in the competitive landscape of self-improvement culture (of which I am undeniably a part - ewww?) —a badge of resilience and flexibility to be flaunted in a world that's losing it's shit?
And maybe not. Maybe it's all innocent advice to make us feel better, giving us something 'to do' when we feel powerless.
Anyway.
Uncertainty doesn't care whether it's 'embraced'
The lovely thing about uncertainty is that doesn't require anything from us*.
*{unlike most of society which requires our attention, money, energy and life force just to get through a day... some might say}
Uncertainty doesn't need us to embrace it, accept it, surrender to to, lean in to, etc. Uncertainty is there (here? everywhere?) whatever we do or don't do with it. Like gravity and - for now, lest we destroy it all together - oxygen.
Uncertainty is a constant current in life, silently but rather insistently propelling us in unpredictable directions.
Uncertainty is indifferent to our preferences. Uncertainty does not care about being embraced.
It's ever-present in the decisions we make and the outcomes we face.
And it always has been.
Besides, you'll probably 'embrace' uncertainty without meaning to
My role in life is guiding people within the maze of the human experience. Scrambling over anxiety and overwhelm, ducking under panic and overthinking and loitering near despair and hopelessness, all while keeping an eye out for those lovely clearings of calm, quiet and peace.
Note I said "within" the maze. Not through the maze. The maze doesn't end. The maze is not something to get through, to endure, to overcome, to conquer, in order to find everlasting peace, happiness, tranquility, or whatever you think you want.
Those feelings are nice, for sure. Mmmmm. I love that soft feeling of calm.
But calm—along with happiness, peace, and all the others—can only be known by its context, by its relationship with the rest of the maze.
We learn during these explorations that all the feelings are in the maze. All the moods, the responses, the reactions, the attitudes. The infinite spectrum of this human experience is in the maze. This is what it means to be alive.
And it's all moving in a dynamic, transformational unspooling of changing moments.
Said another way: you will, and can, and should, feel all the feelings and all the responses, including those about this life-current that we have ringfenced as "uncertainty".
Which means, some of the time, you'll be 'embracing it'. And sometimes you won't.
Without doing anything to change it, you will experience, at one point or another, all of the following:
- Acknowledging and Accepting the Unpredictable Nature of Life Without Trying to Control or Resist It For At Least A Few Minutes
- Trying to Desperately Control Outcomes With a Determined Grimace
- Being Open to the Unknown and Feeling So Beautifully Zen
- Anxiety, Discomfort, Unease and Clenched Fists
....and many more. All available in the maze.
See you in there.