The fear of uncertainty

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The fear of uncertainty

As I walked toward my office this morning, I kept worrying how’s the job going to be. Will I get a lot of scolding or face tons of stress? It was my first day at my new job and things seemed so uncertain. I had the same feeling when I entered school and college for the first time. I guess we feel the fear of uncertainty whenever we try something new. We don’t know what’s ahead of us.

Life has a lot to do with probabilities, as I have mentioned here. When uncertainty arises, possibility fluctuates wildly and the future becomes so unpredictable. This sends us to great fear and worry. This is like those people who face serious economic turmoil. They get huge shock and feel uncertain about the financial future. This might cause panic selling at share markets and worsens the crisis.

Why uncertainty triggers fear?

When uncertainty arises, we face a huge range of possibility where anything can happen, from facing serious problem to getting heavenly reward. Since anything can happen and we are not certain which outcome will happen, it’s the best bet for our body system to expect the worst to increase the chance of survival. If the outcome is horrible, at least preparation is made. If the outcome is good, we survive and move on with life. That’s why our body fires up fight or flight response to prepare us for survival, which explains why we fear and worry when facing uncertainty. All this happens automatically at subconscious level.

School exam is a good example of stimulus for the fear of uncertainty. Even smart students who are well prepared sometimes have this kind of fear. Exam result is uncertain at the time when students take exam. They can pass or fail. Of course the smart students won’t fail, but they are still worried because the uncertainty is still there to haunt them. Whether they do well or badly is not so relevant. Uncertainty is the key. Students can only do their best to increase the chance of scoring well in exam. They will still get panic before opening their exam question papers. It’s like tossing the dice of life and death.

Death is infamous for being the ultimate fear of mankind. No one knows what happens after death. People can only rely on sources of religion and spirituality to explain this great uncertainty. There’s no empirical explanation about it other than a few individuals who have gone through Near-Death Experience (NDE). Will I lose all my memories and experiences that I have gathered throughout my life after I died? Will I vanish into the thin air or my soul will live on? Questions are waiting to be answered while people wonder in darkness. No wonder death is widely feared.

While fear is helpful for us to survive danger, it’s unhealthy to have it trigged all the time for a long time. It wears us out and doesn’t help us solve problem at all. It’s wise to know when to fear and when to stop. While uncertainty brings fear, certainty brings confidence. We can do our best by preparing well and working hard + smart to increase the chance of success and this will raise the level of certainty and confidence.

As I walked toward my office this morning, I remembered a beautiful song. It eased me smoothly like the gentle touch of a long haired angel. I would love to share it with you:

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What you never know

What you never know won’t hurt you
What you never know won’t lie
What you never know won’t desert you
What you never know won’t say goodbye

What you never know won’t hurt you
What you never know won’t lie
What you never know won’t desert you
What you never know won’t make you cry

What you never know
What you never, never, never …
What you never know

What you never know won’t hurt you
What you never know won’t lie
What you never know won’t desert you
What you never know - unless you try

What you never know won’t hurt you

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Readers’ contribution:

Carlota says:

That was a beauty-ful video, Relax!
Thank you so much for addressing this humongous issue of fear…

I think what’s helped me to realize, is that the opposite of fear is trust, and love. For me, I get afraid of what I do not know, or have doubts as to my ability to get through a lot of learning (like at a new job), move through doubt, or accomplish something very important to me.

A lot of times, feeling fear means that I am not trusting in myself and trusting in the Universe to bring about the favorable outcome I desire.

Buying into what your Inner Critic says about you and your situation creates that fear.

For instance, using your example of at a new job, my Inner Critic, tells me that there is so much to assimilate and learn that maybe I’m just not cut out for the job…And who am I kidding, I should just go back to my old job, where people know me, I know where everything is, I know how to do the job, etc.

These are all ramblings of my Inner Critic who is just trying to protect me, but in all actuality, like you explained in your post, this kind of fear isn’t real–Nobody is dying, we aren’t dying from “new job syndrome” but yet we are feeling threatened because we’re being taken out of our comfort zone.

I’ve found this neutralizing affirmation helpful:
“Even though I’m overwhelmed with fear, I deeply and completely love and accept myself…And I’m willing to let go of this fear and choose to trust that I have all the resources and skills within me to create my Dream Life.”

I’m sure you will get comfy at your new job by week’s end, and probably make lots of friends as you have so many fans and friends with your blog

P.S.
I love your blog, it has clean lines and a fresh look! I also feel connected to it as you aren’t afraid to show your personality and blog on topics that parallel your own life. This is not just a “do this, do that” blog, and I appreciate your presence on the Net!

foongpc says:

I think there’s always uncertainties when we do something new. Usually I will just ask myself - what’s the worst that can happen if I fail? Most often than not, the answer is nothing really bad will happen. You won’t die from it.

But I guess it’s always better to visualise positive outcomes cos when we think too much of the uncertainties, we somehow turn our unfounded fears into reality