{"id":3156,"date":"2020-06-26T09:01:19","date_gmt":"2020-06-26T09:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carolinegourlay.wordpress.com\/?p=3156"},"modified":"2020-09-04T09:09:04","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T09:09:04","slug":"what-next-who-knows-living-with-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/what-next-who-knows-living-with-uncertainty\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19: What next? Who knows? Living with uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

So here we are, tentatively venturing back out into the world and wondering what life will be like. There is no shortage of commentators predicting the business, societal and political changes which will result from the pandemic. I am not one of them. What I want to look at is how we handle the level of uncertainty we are facing. Here are six observations.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1.<\/strong> Predictability vs uncertainty<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

One of the overlooked aspects of the pandemic is the weird juxtaposition of massive uncertainty alongside monotonous predictability. On the one hand, you know what your days are going to look like – Zoom calls, walk, dinner, Netflix. Repeat. Take away on Saturday to mix it up a bit. On the other hand, we don’t really know what life will be like in 6 weeks, 6 months, 6 years. Many of us are longing for some kind of change and simultaneously nervous about what the future may hold.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I don’t think we’re used to dealing with this level of boredom and dread at the same time. It’s one of the reasons why you may be finding the situation tougher than you expected. If that’s the case, I refer you back to last month’s blog on self-compassion<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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2.<\/strong> This is multi-layered and complex <\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It is difficult to keep track of the many levels of uncertainty we face. Here are some:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n