Fear is an important human emotion that can help protect us from danger and prepare us to take action. For instance, when we are faced with an unfortunate redundancy situation – that’s when fear comes into play.
But why does it??
It’s simple, fear is programmed into our nervous system and works like an instinct to threat. It is amongst the most powerful of all emotions.
When we face a crossroad or a conflict in our lives, we either fight, freeze or take flight.
We face the unknown, and we deal with it in whatever way we know-how.
So what are some of the steps we can take to face uncertainty?
Embrace it. Embrace the change.
The oldest trick in the book. Accept it and move forward. Look into what you can change.
Going back to our redundancy example at the start – Do you have other skills that you can utilise in your job search?
Preparation, preparation, preparation.
Failure to plan is a plan to fail, I think is how the saying goes?
When we are faced with so much uncertainty having a ‘plan of action’ will ease our minds from panicking.
Again, referring this back to our example. Prepare a plan of tasks or activities you need to do to start searching for your next job. Whether that’s taking a few days to embrace what happened or going straight into it.
Don’t forget to create a plan for how you will job search and schedule in time to do your research before interviews.
Seek support
The final step. Set up a support network. The unknown can be stressful. And having a helping hand will help tenfolds. Someone to pop the kettle on, be the shoulder or just be the motivator that you need to kick start yourself back up again.
Back to our practical example. Tell your friends and family that you are job hunting. If they see a vacancy, maybe they’ll throw it your way.
Ultimately people need people.
When facing the unknown and uncertainty it’s important to have a support network. Someone to confide about how things are going. Someone to let off steam to. But also someone to celebrate the “wins” with. Because they will happen.
