Living with Uncertainty in a Changing World

“The way forward is not to think harder, but to listen deeper”

Uncertainty is nothing new,

but it is the speed of change and volume of information that is like nothing we have seen before. It is easy to feel overwhelmed not knowing what to trust and how to respond.

The Reflex to Resolve

We tend to speak about uncertainty as though it is a problem to be solved, something temporary or inconvenient, a gap that should be closed as quickly as possible.

From an early age we are trained to move toward answers, to decide, to know. Not knowing is tolerated only briefly and often framed as a weakness or a lack of preparation.

In work, in leadership, and in everyday life, clarity is treated as a virtue in itself. Speed is rewarded, hesitation often questioned and pausing easily mistaken for indecision.

So when certainty disappears, as it inevitably does, the reflex is not curiosity but urgency. We hurry to make sense, to stabilise, to regain a feeling of control.

This way of meeting uncertainty is so normalised that it often goes unnoticed. It feels responsible, mature and necessary.

And yet beneath that surface competence, something tightens.

The difficulty is not uncertainty itself, but how quickly we tense around it.

We move into effort, thinking harder and doing more. We try to resolve what is unclear before it has had time to take shape.

Often this looks like competence, decisiveness and being on top of things. But beneath the surface it is driven less by clarity and more by discomfort with not knowing.

So we fill the space and choose too soon. We reach for explanations, plans and conclusions that give us something to stand on, even if they are provisional or misaligned.

The Cost We Rarely Question

What is rarely questioned is the cost of this reflex. The narrowing of attention. The loss of sensitivity. The exhaustion that comes from holding certainty in place, and with it, an erosion in the quality of our decisions and the outcomes they produce.

In trying to escape uncertainty, we often intensify it.

Uncertainty shows up as a tightening of the body, shallow breathing and a sense of acceleration. Attention narrows and the body leans forward, already reaching for what comes next.

There is often a subtle pressure to move, to decide, to arrive somewhere more solid. Even when nothing external is demanding it, the demand is internal.

In these moments, thinking speeds up but perception becomes thinner. We see less, we listen less, and possibilities that require patience or ambiguity fall away.

What we call clarity is often just relief. The relief of no longer having to stay with what feels unstable.

And yet something is lost in that relief. A wider field of information. A more honest sense of what is actually unfolding. The intelligence that emerges only when we are not forcing resolution.

Another Way of Meeting Uncertainty

There is another way of meeting uncertainty, one that does not require answers to arrive first.

It begins with staying with what is present and allowing what is unclear to remain unclear for a little longer, without immediately filling the space.

This is not passivity or resignation but an active form of attention, a willingness to remain in contact with what is actually being experienced rather than rushing toward resolution.

When we do this, something subtly shifts. The body settles, perception widens and we begin to notice more than we could when everything was organised around certainty.

Clarity, when it comes, arrives differently. Not as a conclusion we forced, but as something that forms through sustained attention, through listening and through time.

This kind of orientation does not remove uncertainty, but it changes our relationship to it.

A Different Kind of Intelligence

There are moments when clarity cannot be forced. It emerges through patience, the willingness to pause and stay present when answers are not yet available. 

In times like these, this is not a luxury, but it is another form of intelligence. It is what allows us to respond with more accuracy, more creativity and more resilience. 

Uncertainty cannot be changed, it is part of being human, but how we approach it can change the quality of our lives — and awareness is the first step.

This article is part of a series exploring how we can navigate today's uncertain world. If you would like to follow future articles and have access to FREE guides with ideas how to move through change, please subscribe here. (We will NOT spam your inbox!)