‘Learning to live in this environment of uncertainty is now an important priority for us all. Developing our capability to prioritise ourselves and be flexible with our plans to make adjustments that serve us best will go a long way towards positive outcomes.’
Mary Mangos, Author, Finding Your Well-BEing
The uncertainty of when the pandemic will end still continues in our lives and has consequences for our emotions, our mental health and wellbeing. This is compounding the (pre-pandemic) state of our mental health, where depression was already identified as one of the leading causes of disability by the World Health Organisation, with high individual and community costs.
As human beings it is normal for us to strive to reduce our uncertainty. However, for many of us, certainty may feel elusive as we struggle to live and work in our current environment. The beliefs that we have about future outcomes impact our emotions and feelings of uncertainty. For instance, if we view our experience of uncertainty with curiosity, our stress response may be moderated. In contrast, if we believe we lack control over the situation our stress response may feel more substantial and impact our emotions and wellbeing.
‘Learning to live in this environment of uncertainty is now an important priority for us all. Developing our capability to prioritise ourselves and be flexible with our plans to make adjustments that serve us best will go a long way towards positive outcomes.’ [1]
I recommend the following energy practices and cultivating mindful contentment to strengthen your emotional control and deal with uncertainty:
Cultivate helpful energy practices. Energy is vital and understanding how to manage your energy is important for your emotions and wellbeing. You can consider focusing on:
- Enhancing your sleep by setting an earlier bedtime
- Reducing your alcohol intake
- Eating dinner earlier
- Limiting the use of electronic devices in your bedroom
- Eating nutritious meals and snacks through the day
- Engaging in cardiovascular activity three times per week and strength training once per week for stress release
- Noticing your signs of imminent energy flagging, such as restlessness, yawning, hunger, and lack of focus on tasks
Practice mindful contentment. Practicing mindfulness benefits you by strengthening your emotional control, so you can better deal with uncertainty and stress, and all that it brings you on a day-to-day basis. We can embrace the uncertainty with a mindful practice that cultivates a ‘don’t know mind’ for more openness and contentment. Try the following:
- Bring to your mind a conflict or a situation you’ve experienced.
- Allow your awareness to explore all the thoughts, feelings and opinions you have about that conflict or situation, and how it should be.
- Realise that you don’t know how the situation should be, will be, or what might happen. Say to yourself: ‘I don’t know.’
- Consider how having no fixed opinion and complete openness makes you feel.
- As new thoughts, feelings or opinions come up, keep saying: ‘I don’t know.
- Keep doing this until you are comfortable with the uncertainty; until you can smile or even laugh when you say ‘I don’t know.’
By practicing a ‘don’t know mind’, you can begin to see yourself coping better with uncertain or stressful situations. You begin to imagine that something better might be also about to happen.
Remember that it is normal to struggle, especially during uncertain and challenging times. Avoid the urge to just manage your time better and get more done in your day. Reflect on your energy and mindful contentment. That is the key to finding actions that make a positive difference for you.
Mary Mangos is a registered psychologist and coach, located in Melbourne. Her book Finding Your Well-BEing: The Path to Happiness, Clarity and Peace combines her personal life experiences with her 30 years’ experience as a psychologist, is available now.
[1] Ch. 3, Cultivating Mindful Clarity, By Mary Mangos, Finding Your Well-BEing, October 2021