Posts Tagged uncertainty
The Uncertain Path
Posted by Adam Ainbinder in Goals, Life on June 12, 2009
So i know what you’re thinking. Uncertain path, must be about being alone, about sadness, about the unknown. Well I’ve been trying to remain optimistic this entire week. I’ve had some good news, some bad news, and through it all, I’ve tried to find the good. And it’s been awesome. What a great week!
But what I want to write about tonight is the uncertain path and what it means. To me, the uncertain path is the future. It can be hours from now, or years. It doesn’t matter.
Uncertainty can take many forms. In the short term, you may not know what your boss is going to give you to do at work, if there will be traffic, what you’re going to eat tonight. Long term, you may not know if you’re going to have kids, die at 40, get an educational degree. Uncertainty surrounds us, constantly. I have often feared this. And this week, I’ve come to understand this a bit more.
For me, uncertainty is scary for a few reasons:
- Lack of faith – if I had faith, changing circumstances would most likely occur for a reason. Without faith, is there purpose or reason to things
- Lack of control – if I can’t control something, then how do I get comfortable with it
The more I’ve thought about this, the more I’ve realized that i struggle with uncertainty because of my lack of faith. I don’t mean religion either, I mean trust in a future outcome because there is something greater than ourselves at work in the world (as I wrote about here).When I think about control, I’ve learned based on my recent divorce that I’m not in control. Some things yes, but when it comes to life, I can only do so much. So I keep coming back to faith…
So how do you believe and trust in something good so that anxiety about uncertainty goes away? I know it may not completely go away, but I mean minimize it as much as possible. I’ve read several books that have really caught my attention about faith (new earth, manifest your destiny), but i still struggle in practice.
Faith may come naturally to people who have grown up with it. But what do I do when I know I want it, but know it will not be through religion? That is my struggle this year. My goal is to let go, believe that some things may be meant to be, and just do my best in those things that are within my control.
Is this confusing or do others also experience this? Comments are much appreciated 
uncertainty and our interpretation
Posted by Adam Ainbinder in Life on May 13, 2009
when i was a kid, i used to have an image in my head of a long road that ended in fog, similar to the path you see to the left. i don’t know why, but when i thought of life, this image came into my head. it meant a lot to me. this image was vivid and stood out for a few reasons:
- The road is not straight. I felt this represented how life is a series of tests. Nothing is a straight simple line but rather a series of challenges that lead to different paths in life. I loved this quote in my golf days, “A bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn”. I wonder though how often its up to us to make the turn. Is everything really in our control?
- You can’t see the end of the road. I don’t know if uncertainty scares you, but it scares me. I’m a planner. If you take those personality tests, I may not mind spontaneity, but I’m rarely the one that initiates it. But what I wonder is why is uncertainty such a scary thing. If fate truly exists, uncertainty should be one of the beautiful things in life.
I want to embrace uncertainty, although I find myself battling this each day. One day I love it, the next day I fear it. Sometimes its an hour by hour change. I talk like it’s the greatest thing in the world, but I believe my actions and feelings dictate something different. How do you feel comfortable with uncertainty? how do you enjoy the process and disconnect from the outcome? Why is it that it took me 30 years to really want to dive into this?
How many of you have a general fear of uncertainty? What scares you about not knowing what’s around the corner? And how many of us are stifled and do not want to look beyond the general path in front of us?
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