I’m feeling uncertain about this (or that). Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Whether we perceive it as positive or negative, uncertainty could be a generous gift. I’m exploring negative emotions right now, so I’m diving into this one from that perspective.

We are each unique in our approach to life and the subtle (or not-so-subtle) nuances of emotions that color our lives. You might feel comfortable with a higher volume of uncertainty in your life than others. I don’t mind some uncertainty, especially when trying out new things and seeing how they influence everything else. Raise the stakes though, and the uncertainty becomes overwhelming, with a generous helping of fear on the side. Case and point: writing a memoir and publishing it. (Eeegadz, did I just do that?) That was scary with a capital S. There’s some uncertainty!

But there are other uncertainties related to how we’re providing for ourselves or our families. Oh, and for those of us who are getting closer to the end of our lives, there are uncertainties about having enough resources to live until we take our last breath. The political climate is woefully uncertain, and we’re all more aware of our climate and how our life choices are impacting the beautiful little world we live in.

Worrying about these things is natural for us. We all like having certainty in our lives. Uncertain situations can feel scary when we let our imaginations take over. It’s okay to have those imaginings, but what do you do with these big uncertainties that we seem to have little control over? I like to refocus my uncertainties in this case.

Take the memoir example. I shifted my uncertainty (and fear) into focusing on potential new opportunities and feeling open to them. I imagined how those new possibilities looked and what that might feel like. When someone said to me, “You probably won’t sell very many books,” I shifted that idea toward imagining how encouraging it is for someone. In my mind, there’s great value in that encouragement that no dollar will ever replace. I saw my uncertainty and shifted how I wanted it to function for me (instead of against me). Thanks for the gift, uncertainty.

Understanding our emotions helps us shape how they serve us beneficially. That’s kind of exciting. Isn’t it? Negative emotions aren’t necessarily bad. They just are what they are. How we choose to interpret them and dance with them is up to us. And aren’t you glad we have the option of choice?

She saw her feelings and understood there was more to the story…

Explore more feelings in the Stayin’ in Touch – Negative Emotions book. You can play with them when or wherever you like.

Image by ❤ Monika 💚 💚 Schröder ❤ from Pixabay