1If there is one thing in life that is certain, it would be the uncertainty of things and events due to limitless possibilities of results. Some downplay the chances of an unfavorable result, and others does the complete opposite. But after some introspection and a rather lengthy self-evaluation, it is okay to feel unease on uncertain things, it is a biological reaction similar to fight of flight response to pressuring situations but it is emphasized more on the mental and personal aspect of an individual.
Dealing with Adversity
Now, how does an individual cope or respond to uncertainties in life? Well the short answer is, either they walk it off or succumb to the dread of emotions temporarily and slowly accept the results of an event. But like in reality, the truth is always more complicated than it should be, and there is more to it than the endpoint. If there is anything that Stoicism taught me, Emotions resulting to irrational thinking is the bane of all Stoic Thinking, which can definitely hinder our critical thinking skills on dealing with tough problems and adversities.
But how do we overcome the feeling of uncertainty in life? The answer is, You don't, there is simply no rationale in overcoming things that are beyond of our grasp, and that is okay. The key here is living our lives and knowing the things in life that we cannot control. As I have said in the "Tranquility" Passage, The Dichotomy of Control Principle is one of the fundamental things in having a happy and productive life. Understanding and mastering this principle that removes the tendency of our emotions getting ahead of ourselves and making unwise decisions.
There are 3 things we can apply to our lives that utilize the principle of control:
Pre-Meditating Adversity
Mindset Re-evaluation
Memento Moris
Pre-meditating Adversities
This is one of the things that is hard to apply in life when starting. A mindset that is not well thought out and not prospective or predictive and relative is just a recipe for dissatisfaction and sadness, and this tend to manifest to majority of people. But the biggest aspect of pre-meditating adversities, and probably also the least acknowledged thing, is the fact that this controls one of the biggest influence and least useful factor in making decisions; Emotion. Removing rash emotions will open avenues of choices that seems important in an emotional context, but hinders an individual to make the best choices possible given its context.
For example, the biggest adversity we have faced in the recent times, which is the Pandemic. Nobody really expected this to happen and we blame a living entity that is not even considered to be living. But why would we blame something that we have no control over? Well, disease is just a part of life that we have to live with, yet this pandemic is special, because have not adapted to how the virus is works yet, considering now there are new variants of the virus.
We should not be blaming the virus, in fact we should not be blaming anyone for this; inevitably we would acquire disease at some point of our lives (could be SARS, could be something else), and why can’t we think of it the same way as that? Disease is a part of life honestly, considering the actions of agencies and bodies that handle things on the sector of public services have problems logistically to deliver effective health outcomes, especially in the Third-world Countries (i.e. Philippines).
Mindset Re-evaluation
One might say "old habits, die hard", but these kinds of mindset is hindering you at the very fundamental level. As you learn new things in life, sometimes we evaluate events in our lives with the power of hindsight; but why can't we do the same thing in our mindsets in life? I know it is hard to do such re-evaluation with our emotions in place, but will you grow on the aspect of letting your emotions get ahead of you? Certainly not! You will be offended definitely, but if it was for the sake of yourself and people around you, will you obligate yourself in such task? Maybe? Maybe not. It will be up to you in picking the choice.
You must start small in re-evaluating your mindset toward life, starting with steep goals will just lead to nothing being done. Start with yourself, having a personal introspection and contemplations of things you have done for the day. You can also learn from other people's mistakes and choices as well, while situations may be unique from situation to situation, understanding how someone dealt with one situation with the power of both foresight and hindsight will make you a wise person on the long run.
Memento Moris
A memento mori is a figurative representation of the inevitability of death, but the morbid representation does not stir up fear, in fact it does the opposite. It motivates, inspire and clarify one's purpose and objective in life. Having a memento mori does not mean you want to perish in this world, it helps you to realize the fragility of life and our lives must be put into better use by being wise and not care about the things we cannot control as I have said earlier.
Conclusion
On a lighter note, uncertainty in life is natural and the is always a risk of losing on choosing one side. But that is okay, don't be bummed about things not going your way because it is always that way. In the end, we cannot completely overcome uncertainty in life; we can only live with it.
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