Striving for Certainty Only Breeds Stagnancy — Stop Letting Fear Drive the Bus
Raise your hand if you like certainty and guarantee?!?
As humans, our brains are hard-wired to avoid discomfort.
The fear part of our brain is the dominant driver in that goal. It acts to keep us safe by eliminating possibility and uncertainty as it equates them with threats to our safety.
When faced with ambiguity, our brain works quickly to assess the likelihood of a negative outcome. And fear, being the conservative that it is, never plays a game of risk.
If there is any possibility of a negative result, we feel an immediate pressure to withdraw or hide.
"Go back - it's not worth it," our fear calls to us.
The problem is, growth and change can only happen in the face of uncertainty and "newness."
So while fear is busy giving itself a gold star, we are busy existing in a smaller and smaller zone of "predictable shittyness." Our lives become filled with knowns and predictable outcomes, and we shift from a growth mindset to a fixed or stagnant mindset. We stop chasing, growing, learning, evolving, and reaching.
And sure, it's comfortable there. There is a calmness inherent in predictability. But there is also stuckness. There is disconnect, loneliness, and resolve. There is a life filled with "what-ifs" and "if-onlys".
And over time, we convince ourselves that "fine" is all we get.
What if we shifted this?
What if we allowed the possibility that fear may be a welcome, even helpful, companion on our journey but perhaps not the best driver?
What if we considered, not only, that there is the possibility that something terrible is not lurking around every corner but that we might be more than capable of dealing with it?
Where might our lives take us? What possibilities and what-ifs could become certainties?
FOR MORE ON THIS TOPIC, CHECK OUT THESE OTHER RESOURCES:
Use this tool to help you let go of racing thoughts
Learn the importance of tolerating your own distress
See why getting comfortable in ambiguity is important
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