In the past two years, uncertainty is something that I’ve become very accustomed to. I’ve always been the type of person who thrives when there is a structured plan put in place, something that tells me what’s going on and when. The educational and social aspects of my life have always been structured. It’s just easy for me to know when my classes are, where they are and what I’m doing on any given day. This makes my life easier, and it has always helped me reduce my stress levels and allowed me to live life to the fullest. But sometimes, things out of my control can mess with my plans unexpectedly, and this creates uncertainty. Like I mentioned above, I’ve experienced a lot of uncertainty in my life and as tough as it can be at times, it’s helped me grow in so many ways. As much as I thrive in certain environments, I have figured out a way to thrive in uncertain environments too.
Uncertainty is an aspect of all of our lives, whether we like it or not. There are times and aspects in our lives where we simply have no control, even though we might really want to have that control. My point being that COVID-19 and how none of us knew what was going on or how the government would close things down/open things back up throughout the pandemic. These past two years have been filled with uncertainty and they’ve honestly allowed me to realize my distain for uncertainty. I’ve wished so many times throughout COVID-19 that things would change and go back to the way they used to be, but that’s all I was doing. Wishing and hoping. As much as I wished and hoped, I realized that this had ultimately no control over what happened in the end.
The one thing I realized from all of this was that there were smaller things that I could control. I focused on this aspect of the uncertainty and did my best to control the little things in my life that I actually could. My attitude and behaviours towards specific things changed, even though public health guidelines and the pandemic didn’t. I acknowledged my privilege and became thankful for those around me and for other aspects of my life. These were all things I personally could change to help keep the uncertainty to a minimum. Also, I made plans in ways that I knew I could. I structured my days and organized my life in a way that made me certain about what I could control. Limiting my focus and attending to the things I could actually control as opposed to the things I couldn’t was one of the best ways that I combatted the uncertainty that the pandemic brought.
Obviously, there are many more factors that can impact someone’s certainty. Although the pandemic has been a main cause of uncertainty lately, there are plenty of other things
out there that can affect people’s lives that no one has control over. But I find that taking things one day at a time and shifting focus to the things that can be controlled allows the uncertainty to nearly dissipate into certainty. This small change in my thinking and thought processes has really helped me to grow as both a woman and as an individual.