The Fog of Uncertainty …

Life is filled with uncertainty.

We may fight, resist, deny, ignore, suppress or belittle this reality.

We may cling to all things known and assumed to be certain.

And yet the fact remains that uncertainty is part of life.

Nothing is really certain in this great gift of life.

Except the fact that we will all die.

And on a somewhat more hope inspiring level, that God offers to help and accompany us in all. Irrespective of whether we acknowledge, know, deny, love or hate Him. Or indeed have any other response to Him.

Everything else is uncertain. From what will happen today, let alone tomorrow, to us, to others or to the world.
Uncertainty is a fact of reality which us humans tend to dislike. Me included.

And yet, uncertainty is also an unavoidable part of the pathway to change, growth and new vision. We don’t move from one certainty to another in life. We typically move from something, someone or some situation that is felt to be certain in to something, someone or some situation that is not.

This is how change happens.

This is how we evolve.

This is how we grow.

This is how we shed that which we have outgrown in order to enter that which can facilitate further growth.
Ultimately, this is how we continue living.

And yet to allow this progress to continue occurring is to keep letting go of the knowns or perceived certainties of life. As fragile as they actually are. For we cannot embark upon new pathways if we refuse to leave the old ones.

And this can evoke FEAR – that great stealer of progress.

For it is FEAR that torments us with its cruel whisperings of ‘what if’s’.

It seeks to drive us back in to all that we have felt to be certain. It tempts us to return to the pathways that we have already walked.

Yet in order to make new discoveries, we must try new pathways, with no guarantee of where these will take us or what we will encounter.

This involves RISK.

As I reflect upon this, I realise that part of my own difficulty in writing of late is because I am in the fog of uncertainty. That uncomfortable state that I want to resist. Yet in wanting to grow, I have stepped on to a new pathway which has led me in to this fog of uncertainty. As I am unsure what to do with what I am encountering, I am tempted to turn back to the old known pathways. Yet I know in my hearts that I have done that many times before and to do so again would be cowardly and defeatist.

Knowing that I could not turn back but hesitating to move forward, I became paralysed. Caught in the web of analysis paralysis. Trying to force certain answers ahead of the journey, to avoid the discomfort of uncertainty. I was attempting to gain clarity as to where the next step would take me prior to taking it.

But life doesn’t work like that. We don’t get the guarantee before we take the step. We have to choose to let go of the known and enter the unknown. To tolerate the uncertainty and to accept the risk. To trust that we will learn what we need to only as we enter and embrace the challenges that arise. Rather than giving in to the temptation to run back to the old at the first sign of difficulty or the first time we stumble.

New pathways do present new challenges. And we will not necessarily handle them well at first attempt. We may make mistakes, make a mess, get stuff wrong. This is called learning and this is how we grow.

Uncertainty arises whenever we consider attempting something or some pathway that we have not tried before. It could be in relation to something in life that we have previously refused to face or to engage with. It could be something within us; feelings or experience that we do not know what to do with. Or a certain situation that we are refusing to address, or an area of life that we feel called to enter but have no prior knowledge or experience of.

It is anything within us or our life about which we simply do not know what to do with or what will happen as a result of us addressing and entering in to it.

Whatever the thing is that is full of uncertainty, it sits in front of us screaming for our attention. Yet we may blatantly ignore it or cover with the noise of distraction or start taking ridiculously long routes elsewhere in an attempt to bypass it.

UNCERTAINTY.

It scares us yet it also holds the key to the new season.

Because the only way to progress in life is by continuing to explore unknown territory. To go back is to revisit the same scenery. To go forward is to discover new horizons. But this cannot be done without the presence of uncertainty. It accompanies us on the journey through to new discoveries and landscapes. It can be uncomfortable and daunting to travel with uncertainty but if we can learn to tolerate it, we may just discover our new life.

Whilst contemplating the uncertainty that has accompanied me upon my own new paths of late, a very dear and wise friend of mine has reminded me that the only way to find the clarity we yearn for is by entering this fog of uncertainty. For it is only as we enter it, that it begins to lift.

So, whilst I’m in this fog of uncertainty that accompanies the pathway to growth and change, I will continue to remind myself that I do not need to overthink myself in to inaction. I need to trust and simply put one foot in front of the other, trusting in that which is bigger than me, to guide me to where I need to be and to teach me that which I need to learn en route. No matter how uncomfortable or disorientating the experience may be.
I am choosing to push on, rather than retreat.

I do not know what I will face or how I will respond. But I do know the one who does. Who see’s the big picture, holds the map and knows exactly where He wants to lead me and what He wants to work out within me along the way.

Growth and change are not easy. But they beat the living death that accompanies the alternative.

What are you spending ridiculous amounts of energy avoiding in your life?

Perhaps now is the time to embrace the uncertainty and bite the bullet …