Reflective pause:
How do I typically respond to uncertainty and change? What strategies do I find effective in managing feelings of uncertainty and maintaining my resilience during challenging times?
People often react to change with feelings of uncertainty, anxiety and fear (Khaw et al., 2023). Dealing with uncertainty can significantly affect stress levels and self-confidence, often leading people to feel overwhelmed. Most people are uncomfortable with uncertainty, but some find it more challenging than others. People with perfectionist tendencies (see FWB2 Self-confidence and Self-efficacy) tend to find uncertainty particularly difficult, as there is no clear-cut ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ action to take.
Intolerance of uncertainty describes a tendency to react negatively, both emotionally and cognitively, to uncertain situations and events (Buhr & Dugas, 2009). People who struggle to tolerate uncertainty may behave in the following ways:
- Actively avoiding situations or decisions that involve uncertainty, preferring familiar and predictable circumstances.
- Engaging in meticulous planning and preparation to reduce uncertainty, sometimes to an excessive degree.
- Seeking validation or reassurance from others to alleviate feelings of uncertainty or doubt.
- Struggling to make decisions, especially when there are multiple outcomes or possibilities.
- Setting excessively high standards or expectations to reduce uncertainty, leading to stress and dissatisfaction when these expectations are not met.
- Delaying important tasks or decisions due to uncertainty about the best course of action, often seeking multiple opinions before proceeding.
- Engaging in extensive research and information gathering, frequently making multiple lists.
- Experiencing physical symptoms such as tension, restlessness, or fatigue in reaction to uncertain situations.
- Engaging in repetitive, intrusive thoughts or ‘what-if’ scenarios about uncertain situations, intensifying anxiety and distress.
Anticipating and responding to the unexpected is crucial in health and social care work. While we cannot control the future, we can become more resilient to future uncertainties. Mason (2022) highlights the importance of developing ‘safe uncertainty’, where the level of unpredictability or risk is manageable or acceptable due to adequate resources, support systems or contingency plans. In safe uncertainty, individuals feel confident in navigating and adapting to the unknown without feeling overwhelmed or excessively stressed.
As a health and social care practitioner, you will encounter considerable uncertainty on a day-to-day basis. Building a tolerance for uncertainty promotes a sense of safe uncertainty, where you can accept situations that are unclear, uncertain, or novel and work effectively in ambiguous environments. Strengthening your capacity to tolerate uncertainty helps prevent feeling overwhelmed by change and enhances your sense of control. Ways to enhance our tolerance of uncertainty include:
- Redefine the way you see uncertainty: While you do not have to see uncertainty as desirable, regarding ambiguous situations as threatening or potentially dangerous will only reinforce your belief that you cannot handle them. Remaining calm when routines or habits are disrupted can also be beneficial.
- Expose yourself to uncertainty: Gradually exposing yourself to uncertain situations in a controlled way can help desensitise you to ambiguity and build confidence in dealing with the unknown.
- Create a healthy relationship with threat: When determining the probability of an event, use your rational mind instead of letting anxiety take over. Recognise that it is natural to feel some degree of anxiety during challenging times. Adopting an optimistic yet realistic approach involves viewing challenging situations as temporary and situational rather than permanent and pervasive. This mindset helps you keep uncertainty into perspective.
- Think flexibly and embrace complexity: Allow information that you know to be accurate to shift your thinking and influence your behaviour. Instead of viewing situations in binary terms like ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, consider them along a spectrum. This will broaden the scope for potential changes and solutions.
- Take control: Remaining passive and avoiding action can lead to feelings of powerlessness. Even if you do not have all the answers, offering suggestions and using your judgement can help cultivate a sense of mastery, competence and self-efficacy, especially in rapidly changing circumstances. However, there are times when it is appropriate to wait for more information and clearer circumstances before taking action.
- Adopt a future time perspective: Dwelling on mistakes or missed opportunities can make us fearful of change, blind us to future opportunities, and discourage creativity and willingness to take risks.
- Encourage collaboration: Fostering a culture of collaboration and teamwork can provide practitioners with additional support and resources when facing uncertain situations, reducing feelings of isolation and increasing their sense of control.
- Problem solve: Engage your rational mind not your anxious one when devising a plan. If you find yourself making decisions when you are feeling anxious, review them the next day before putting them into action.
- Avoid over-relying on plans and goals: Being excessively rigid increases the likelihood of automatically rejecting uncertainty or ambiguity. Given that situations can change rapidly, the goals that you set yourself (or those set by others) may not be achievable within the expected timeline or in the envisaged manner.
- Break actions down into smaller steps: Trying out ideas on a smaller scale allows you to assess risks while minimising potential negative consequences, thereby reducing fear of the unknown. Test theories quickly and rigorously, evaluate the outcomes, and then decide whether to proceed with or reject that course of action.
- Promote reflective practice: Reflecting on past experiences of uncertainty and identifying successful coping strategies can help people learn from experience and develop effective approaches for managing future uncertainties.
- Embrace the inevitable: Things rarely go the way we anticipate. By preparing for the worst-case scenario, you equip yourself to manage disasters if they occur. Negative visualisation, also known as a ‘pre-mortem’, can help you maintain emotional stability during stressful situations. Taking time to contemplate the worst plausible outcome allows you to identify fears, anticipate setbacks and navigate them effectively.
More information on increasing uncertainty tolerance can be found here and here.