It’s a problem I hear again and again in my hypnotherapy clinic. It comes in a variety of forms, but it is always the same basic structure. “My future is uncertain, and that stresses me out.” The future my clients talk about could be a failing relationship, potential redundancy from their job, or simply the world situation – which is far from certain at the moment. They do not know what is coming round the corner.
It is a natural human reaction – to be stressed by uncertainty. When you don’t know what’s coming, you don’t know how to prepare. When the future is uncertain, you cannot be sure if you will be better off or if something will go drastically wrong. Our brains are often tuned to anticipate the worst case scenario, and so we become stressed and anxious.
What goes on in our brains is then a bit of a vicious circle. We get anxious about the future, so we think of all the things that could go wrong, and that makes us more stressed, and so on.
Of course, we could choose to ignore the uncertain future and carry on as if life were normal. But we must be careful not to kid ourselves. If there is a chance that something could go wrong, we need to take reasonable steps to prepare for it. We can think about what could go wrong, but we shouldn’t dwell on it.
Five Things to Remember
If the future is uncertain, if you don’t know what is round the next corner:
- Anticipate what could go wrong.
- If there is something you can do to prepare – do it.
- If you find yourself thinking about things you cannot do anything about – put those thoughts aside.
- Once you have prepared as best you reasonably can, put all thoughts of disaster aside and enjoy what is going on in your life right now.
- Remember that you have already coped with a lot of unexpected things in your life up until now – and you have the capacity to do it again.
And Finally …
I help people who are struggling to cope with stress and anxiety. I use hypnotherapy to help them get their lives back in order again and able to cope with the uncertainties of the world. If you would like to Contact Me, I would be happy to have a chat, and if you are interested, book you in for hypnotherapy either at my clinic here in Fleet, Hampshire or online.
Photo by Adrian “Rosco” Stef on Unsplash