How can we cope with uncertainty?
It’s difficult to know how we can cope with uncertainty in the world at the moment. Nothing seems to be immune from being changed, restricted, or cancelled. As a result we can have feelings ranging from disappointment and frustration to anxiety and fear.
Why it’s important to manage our feelings
So, it’s important to remind ourselves of the important constants in our lives such as our family and friends and use technology to maintain contact with them. And, it’s also important to look after our physical and mental health during these uncertain times. They are both interconnected; how we feel emotionally can manifest as physical symptoms such as muscular pain, headaches, IBS, insomnia etc.
How to live well when we feel we have no control?
If we are going to cope successfully with uncertainty, it’s important for us to differentiate between what we can control and what we can’t control. We might have little-to-no control over external factors such as working from home or the financial stress that uncertainty brings for us.
It’s difficult to know how we can cope with uncertainty in the world at the moment. Nothing seems to be immune from being changed, restricted, or cancelled. Feelings in all of us can range from disappointment and frustration to anxiety and fear.
Why it’s important to manage our feelings
So, it’s important to remember the important constants in our lives such as family and friends and use technology keep in touch. And it’s also important to look after our physical and mental health during because they are both interconnected; how we feel emotionally can manifest as physical symptoms such as muscular pain, headaches, IBS, insomnia etc.
How to live well when we feel we have no control?
To cope with uncertainty, it’s important for us to differentiate between what we can control and what we can’t control. We might have little-to-no control over external factors such as working from home or to what extent our business may or may not be impacted by the current situation or the knock-on financial stress that uncertainty brings for us.
However, we do have control over our physical health by paying attention to our diet and by taking regular exercise. In addition to the physical health benefits, both diet and exercise also play an important role in our mental health by lowering stress and anxiety and boosting serotonin which regulates our mood.
Have some fun
It is still possible to find something enjoyable to do such as walking the dog, playing football in the garden or park with our children, watching our favourite tv programs on catch-up, taking the time to read a book, restarting hobbies that we haven’t done for a while or beginning new ones and reconnecting with old friends even if only online. Having fun is especially important as it lowers stress, refocuses us on the here and now, instead of worrying and negatively predicting the future.
What can we do if we feel overwhelmed ?
Life is obviously full of uncertainties but coping with uncertainty long-term can cause us to feel overwhelmed; this in turn not only increases anxiety and racing thoughts, but also reduces focus, concentration and the quality of our sleep and consequently we can find ourselves stuck in a vicious cycle. To break the cycle, it’s important to lower anxiety by exercising, meditating etc or writing down our worries instead of letting them build up and race around in the mind, or talking to a friend or someone who is trained to help.
Sources of help:
https://www.samaritans.org
https://www.mind.org.uk
https://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/beatstress.uk
https://www.yvonne-morgan.co.uk