coronavirus

Let’s Reframe Challenges to Cope with Uncertainty…

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We are all dealing with unprecedented — and seemingly endless — uncertainty right now.

While we may not have as much clarity as we like, we can avoid feeling disoriented by developing an “uncertainty capability” and reframing our outlook on the unknown.

Some common reframes include:

Learning. Let’s ask ourselves what we can learn from the situation rather than automatically viewing it as a setback.

Games. Remember that we win some and lose some.

Gratitude. Recognize what we already have and be thankful for it.

Randomness. A lot of life is random. What happens isn’t always our doing.

Without a clear end to the pandemic in sight, it’s important that we develop and sustain a healthy relationship with the things we don’t know and can’t control.

These shifts in what we think about uncertainty will help us build resilience and a positive outlook.

Waiting and worrying…

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It’s easy for us to worry. The world is upside down, the tough period continues, a tragedy unevenly but widely distributed.

Worry takes a lot of effort. And worry, unlike learning or action, accomplishes nothing of value.

And, at the same time, due to the time-horizon of the pandemic, it’s also tempting for us to wait. To wait for things to get back to normal. But all the time we’re spending waiting (for a normal that is unlikely to be just like it was) is time we’re not spending learning, leading or connecting.

If we decided to simply reduce our waiting and worrying, just imagine how much we could discover, how many skills we could learn, how dramatically attitudes could shift.

We can still wait (even though time will pass either way). And we can still worry (even though it doesn’t do any good). But perhaps we can figure out how to do it less.