Embracing Uncertainty: Finding the Courage to Step into the Unknown

My Backstory

I’ve come to realize that fear, worry, and other people’s opinion has prevented me from trying new things for a very long time. I mean don’t get me wrong, I have done things, but I would always need the input of others. It was as if I never fully trusted in myself. Not only did I need the input of others, but also I allowed their input to carry so much weight. Almost as if the other person’s response or reaction was the deciding factor on whether I would move forward.

Throughout my healing journey I have come to the realization that I possessed very intense and unhealthy attachment habits that I have burdened myself with over the last 15 or so years. This realization was devastating… but I was grateful that it finally clicked for me.

I lived a very big co-dependent lifestyle, fear of being and feeling alone. With this newfound realization I knew that I needed a big change, but I didn’t know what. I didn’t have much money, and where do the world today turn for answers? YouTube haha!

Finding a New Opportunity

I found Timothy Ward, a YouTuber who does seasonal work and uses it as an opportunity to travel. I thought this could be great opportunity, this is exactly what I need. Seasonal work provides housing and food, either free or at a very low cost. This idea truly piqued my interest because I needed a solid season to truly save money and decide on where in the states I would like to live. The thing is, I was now no contact with my family for 5 months and only one friend from the Army who I try not to constantly bug with my issues. I was truly alone, and this was very scary for me, but I knew that I needed to face my fears

So, I looked online for seasonal work, and I found a position that was 5 hours away and I thought “this is it, this is my opportunity.” So, I filled out the application and within a couple of days I received a phone call for an interview. The interview was scheduled for four days after the initial call, and I was offered the job that day! In less than a week my world changed.

Fear & Courage

The thing is, this job started in two weeks, 14 days! I was ecstatic yet terrified. I didn’t think that things would happen so rapidly. Also, I had to pack up my entire two-bedroom apartment and put everything in storage within a short amount of time. I sat down to take a breather and made a list of everything that needed to be done by the day. Technically, I gave myself 12 days to start this road trip because I needed room for adjustments and adapting when I arrived to my new job.

Many thoughts ran through my head. Am I really doing this? Is this the right decision? Am I being irrational? Can I do this alone? What if my car breaks down on the travel? Everything that could go wrong, passed through my mind. To be frank, I was afraid of the commitment. For the first time in years, I had no one for input nor did I really want it. It was all on me, but this is where I wanted to be. I decided; we are doing this no matter what. I gave myself no other option but to face my fear.

I wrote down every fear, worry, and possible obstacles that may arise. Alongside of them I wrote ways that I will attack the problem if necessary. This strategy gave me the courage to lock in because withdrawing from this decision was not an option. Therefore, easing the fears and worries with solutions settled my mind. I built trust within my own capabilities.

Overthinking was the problem, and I know that it is something many people struggle with. I read a book called “Don’t Believe Everything You Think” by Joseph Nguyen and it changed my perspective about thoughts that evade our mind. There will always be thoughts that pop into our head. Being exposed to a variety of people, conversations, television, experiences, etc. will always spark the human side within us to analyze, judge or simply be curious. This is natural. The unnatural part is the rumination of the thoughts, trying to control the thoughts instead of taking them to be just that. Thoughts.

Embracing the Uncertainty

Things will not always be perfect but that is why mental preparation is vital. Building resilience and using tools to recenter oneself during hardship. Humans have this perception that things will someday be perfect but unfortunately hardship is a part of the natural cycle. What we should work on is incorporating a natural cycle of when difficulty arises to not focus on the difficulty but what we can do to make an adjustment. The thing with overthinking is once you’re done, the problem will still be there. It is important to remember that however you feel about a problem that shows its face is valid; acknowledge the frustration, irritation, hurt, sadness, etc. then find a way to pivot to a solution-based mindset. 

You will be surprised how quickly you will find a solution when you do not allow yourself to be weighed down by these emotions. Acknowledge them and let them go. You will then enter a space to control what you are able to control and find a more suitable way to approach. Time is precious and we waste a lot of it in a pessimistic mindset. One thing that has helped me tremendously is reframing how I attacked issues. Pausing to think, okay this did not work but what can I do, what do I have control over. Become a glass half full type of person.

Amid everything, there is always something to be grateful for. Become a person of mere optimism. Will Bowen wrote in “A Complaint Free World” the power of not complaining. When problems arise maintaining optimism begins to bring internal peace. When I truly stopped complaining, I realized how many people in the world are cursed by pure pessimism. It is soul draining. Complaining and being negative is so normalized, as a society people do not realize how every day, we drain ourselves and others with it.

Become the person who can see the glass half full. Everyone has fears and uncertainty is inevitable, but it takes will power to lean on courage to power through. It is scary and uncomfortable. But remember when there is comfort, there is ease and easy routes are never as rewarding as the difficult ones. I have dived into courage despite of my fear and here I am typing this blog in my room of my new seasonal job. Things were not perfect but the mere fact that I followed through, I feel stronger and more capable. Everyone deserves to feel more powerful and confident but that will only come when entering the unknown and being consistent. Try something that you have thought about but pushed it to the wayside because there were too many “what-ifs.” Embrace the uncertainty and you will be stronger because of it. I guarantee it.