Uncertainty Fatigue: How to cope

Uncertainty fatigue may decrease your ability to cope with stress

Right now, uncertainty fatigue is making it more difficult to manage stress. Sure, in June and July we got used to a level of uncertainty. Now, however, Autumn is approaching and back-to-school looks different – and uncertain. The upcoming elections by definition are uncertain. Nobody knows who will win and political ads and rhetoric amp up stress not matter if you lean red, blue, or purple.

So what do we do about it?

I suggest adding something and taking something away.

First, add something to reset your view.

We are wired to look for problems and solve them. But when we are dealing with unrelenting uncertainty we see everything as negative problems to solve. Resetting to a positive outlook releases us from the negativity that creates stress.

A few weeks ago, I started feeling down and quite frankly crabby. Everything seemed overwhelming and negative. I added watching a video from Dr. Bertice Berry every morning. She tells a story with a point in about 5 minutes which reshapes the way I see the day. Plus her beautiful voice makes me smile. That is a great start! It is a great daily remedy for uncertainty fatigue. Here is a sample (you can find all of her videos on her YouTube Channel.

Second, remove something that triggers stress.

Taking our girls to college this year seems remarkably uncertain. Every news alert triggers my stress about their safety and how long they will be able to stay at school. There is absolutely nothing I can do to change the situation, and that is creating significant uncertainty fatigue. I’ve found turning off my news alerts so that I can choose when I consume the news rather than having it constantly bombard me has made a significant difference. I also do not watch televised news and avoid videos on Facebook. I can read the newspaper (electronically these days) and not react as emotionally to it as I do to watching a report. Removing that trigger has been essential to reducing my stress.

As we move through Autumn and election season, I encourage you to add something to reset your view and remove stress triggers to combat uncertainty fatigue so you can feel better and get more of the important things done.

There are more tips on stress in my new book as well as my e-book on Coping with Uncertainty

As always, I wish you low stress and great success!

Image by sianbuckler from Pixabay