Can You Feel Safe When Nothing Is Certain? – Episode 517

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Thank you so much for being here today!

I want to start with a question.

Do you feel safe right now?

Not physically safe, necessarily. But safe in a deeper sense. Safe in the sense that things are going to be okay. That the future, even though you cannot see it clearly, is going to work out.

If your honest answer is no, or I’m not sure, then this episode is for you.

What Uncertainty Feel Like

Let me talk for a moment about what uncertainty actually feels like. Because I think it is important to name it.

Uncertainty feels like standing on ground that might be shifting. It feels like reaching for something solid and finding nothing to hold onto. It feels like trying to plan your future when you cannot see more than a few feet ahead.

And for a lot of people, that feeling is accompanied by some pretty heavy companions. Doubt. Fear. Anxiety. A sense of being unmoored, untethered, like the anchor has been pulled up and you are drifting.

If you are a person who likes to have things planned out, who finds comfort in routine and predictability, uncertainty can feel especially threatening. Because the thing you rely on to feel safe, knowing what comes next, has been taken away.

And here is the honest truth. Most of us walk around with a story in our heads about the future. We tell ourselves we know what is going to happen. We make plans and set expectations and build mental pictures of how things are going to go. And most of the time, that feels reassuring.

But the truth is, we never really know. The future is always uncertain. We just do not always feel that uncertainty. And when something happens that strips away that comfortable illusion of certainty, it can feel absolutely destabilizing.

We’ve Been Here Before

I want to take a moment to put our current uncertainty in some historical context. Because I think it helps.

Think about September 11, 2001.

I remember that day vividly. And I think most Americans who were alive at the time do. In a single morning, the sense of safety and certainty that most of us had been living with was shattered. The world felt fundamentally different. Dangerous in a way it had not felt before. And the uncertainty that followed, about what would happen next, about whether there would be more attacks, about what the future of the country looked like, was profound and deeply unsettling.

And yet. We got through it. The country grieved, and healed, and adapted, and moved forward. Not without scars. Not without lasting change. But forward nonetheless.

Then came 2020 and the pandemic.

Almost overnight, the entire world was turned upside down. Businesses closed. Schools closed. People lost jobs, lost loved ones, lost the rhythms and routines that had given their lives structure and meaning. The uncertainty was staggering. How long will this last? Will I stay healthy? Will my family be okay? What is going to happen to my business, my career, my finances?

And again, as impossible as it felt in those early days, we got through it. Imperfectly. Painfully. But we got through it.

I share these examples not to minimize what anyone went through, because both of those events caused real and lasting suffering. I share them because they are proof. Proof that human beings are capable of navigating profound uncertainty and coming out the other side.

You have done it before. And you can do it again.

Where We Are Now

And here we are today. And honestly, the uncertainty has not gone away. If anything, for a lot of people it has intensified.

Politically, we are living in one of the most divided and unpredictable times in modern American history. The news cycle is relentless. The conversations are polarized. And the feeling that nobody really knows what is going to happen next, politically or socially, is widespread.

Economically, many people are feeling the pressure. Inflation, housing costs, job insecurity, the rapid changes being brought about by artificial intelligence and automation. The landscape of work is shifting in ways that feel genuinely unpredictable. And for a lot of people, that uncertainty about financial security is one of the most anxiety-producing things they are dealing with right now.

And on top of all of that, there is the general uncertainty that comes with just being alive in a rapidly changing world. Climate. Technology. Global events. It is a lot to hold.

So if you are feeling unsettled right now, if you are finding it hard to feel safe and grounded, please know that you are not alone. And please know that what you are feeling makes complete sense.

The Nervous System and Uncertainty

Here is something that I think is really important to understand. And it connects directly to my work as a hypnotherapist.

When we experience uncertainty, especially prolonged or intense uncertainty, our nervous system responds as if there is a threat. Remember the fight or flight response we have talked about on this podcast before? It gets triggered not just by physical danger, but by the perception of danger. And the unknown, the uncertain future, can absolutely register as a threat to the nervous system.

So what happens? The body goes into a state of alert. Stress hormones flood the system. The mind starts scanning for danger, looking for the worst case scenario, trying to predict and control what cannot be predicted or controlled. And over time, that chronic state of alertness takes a real toll. On our sleep. On our mood. On our physical health. On our ability to think clearly and make good decisions.

The goal, then, is not to eliminate uncertainty, because we cannot do that. The goal is to regulate the nervous system so that uncertainty does not automatically trigger a full scale threat response. So that you can sit with not knowing, without falling apart.

And that is very much learnable. It takes practice. But it is absolutely possible.

Nothing is Ever Truly Certain

Here is something that might sound a little counterintuitive, but I find it genuinely helpful.

Nothing has ever been certain.

Not really.

We have always been living with uncertainty. We just do not always feel it. In the relatively calm and stable periods of our lives, we have the luxury of forgetting that the future is unknown. We build our mental models of what is going to happen and we live inside them comfortably. But those models were always just stories. Comfortable, useful stories. Not guarantees.

The uncertainty was always there. What has changed is our awareness of it.

And here is why I find that helpful. Because it means that the feeling of certainty we are looking for is not actually out there in the future waiting to be found. It is something we generate from the inside. It is something we create through our relationship with ourselves, with our values, with our faith that we are capable of handling whatever comes.

That is real security. And it cannot be taken away by an election result or an economic report or a news headline.

Uncertainty as Invitation

I want to offer you a reframe that I have found really valuable, both in my own life and in my work with clients.

Uncertainty is not just a problem to be solved. It is also an invitation.

An invitation to explore. To reconsider. To ask questions you might not have asked when everything felt settled and predictable.

Over the years I have worked with many people who found themselves in periods of deep uncertainty. A divorce. A job loss. A major life transition. And almost without exception, the people who came through those periods with the most growth and the most clarity were the ones who got curious instead of just scared.

They asked themselves things like: What do I really want? What matters most to me? What have I been tolerating that I no longer want to tolerate? What kind of life do I actually want to build?

Uncertainty creates space. And in that space, if you are willing to look, you can find things about yourself and your life that the busy, certain, scheduled routine of everyday life never gave you room to discover.

The internet, of course, is an extraordinary tool for this kind of exploration. You can connect with people who are doing things that interest you. You can research new career paths, new ways of living, new communities, new ideas. The resources available to anyone willing to get curious are genuinely remarkable.

Expansion and Contraction

Here is another idea that I find really useful when navigating uncertainty.

Life moves in cycles of expansion and contraction.

Expansion is the outward phase. Money is flowing. Opportunities are opening up. Your social circle is growing. Your business is thriving. Things are happening and you are right in the middle of them.

But expansion is always followed by contraction. That is just the nature of things. Contraction is the inward phase. Maybe there is less happening on the outside. Maybe your circumstances have changed in ways you did not choose. Maybe you find yourself with more quiet time and fewer external demands.

And here is the thing about contraction. As uncomfortable as it can feel, it serves a purpose. Contraction is a time to go inside. To get quiet. To get clear about your values and your priorities. To ask yourself what is truly important and what you want to carry forward into the next phase of expansion.

If you find yourself in a period of contraction right now, try not to fight it. Try instead to use it. Get clear. Go inside. Write things down. Let this be a time of preparation and reflection rather than just anxiety and resistance.

Creating Certainty from the Inside

If certainty cannot be found out there in the future, how do we create it from the inside?

Here are some things that genuinely help.

The first is to create a daily routine. This is one of the most powerful and underrated tools for managing uncertainty. When the external world feels chaotic and unpredictable, having a reliable daily structure gives your nervous system something to hold onto. It does not have to be elaborate. Wake up at the same time. Exercise. Eat well. Set aside time for the things that matter to you. Read. Meditate. Create. Connect with people you love. When you wake up in the morning with a sense of knowing what the day holds, even in the middle of broader uncertainty, it creates a felt sense of stability that is genuinely calming.

The second is to develop faith that things will work out. Not blind optimism. Not pretending everything is fine when it is not. But a genuine, grounded trust in your own ability to navigate what comes. You have gotten through hard things before. You have figured things out before. You have survived 100 percent of your worst days so far. That track record matters. Let it be evidence that you can trust yourself.

A helpful affirmation for times of uncertainty is this: “I can navigate this. I can figure this out. I trust in my ability to find my way.” Repeat that. Write it down. Say it in the morning. Say it when the anxiety spikes. Let it become a new pattern in the subconscious mind.

The third is to stay present. This is one of the most important things you can do in uncertain times. Because most of the anxiety around uncertainty is not about what is happening right now. It is about the imagined future. The scary scenarios your mind creates when it starts projecting forward into the unknown.

And here is the thing about those scary scenarios. They are not real. They are thoughts. Mental movies. And they are often wildly inaccurate.

Right now, in this moment, you are okay. The birds are singing. The sun is either shining or the rain is falling. And in this moment, there is beauty and wonder available to you if you are willing to look for it. Being present does not solve the uncertainty. But it interrupts the cycle of anxious future thinking and brings you back to the only place where life actually happens, which is right here and right now.

The fourth is to reach out and connect. Uncertainty feels bigger and scarier when we carry it alone. Talk to people you trust. Share what you are going through. Join a group or a community of people who are navigating similar challenges. Connection is one of the most powerful antidotes to the fear that uncertainty can generate.

You Can Feel Safe Even if You are Uncertain

I want to come back to the question I started with.

Can you feel safe when nothing is certain?

My answer, after 23 years of working with people through some of the most uncertain and challenging periods of their lives, is yes. Absolutely yes.

But that safety does not come from the outside. It does not come from the news getting better, or the political situation stabilizing, or the economy improving, or any external circumstance changing. Those things may or may not happen. And they are largely outside your control.

The safety I am talking about comes from the inside. It comes from knowing yourself. Trusting yourself. Having a relationship with your own values and your own resilience that does not depend on external certainty to stay intact.

It comes from the practice of presence. From the discipline of a daily routine. From the courage to get curious instead of just scared. From the willingness to sit with not knowing and trust that the path will reveal itself as you walk it.

That kind of safety is real. And it is available to you right now, regardless of what is happening in the world around you.

How Hypnotherapy Can Help

I want to speak directly for a moment about how hypnotherapy can be a genuinely powerful tool for navigating uncertainty.

As I mentioned earlier, prolonged uncertainty puts the nervous system into a chronic state of alert. The fight or flight response stays activated. And over time that takes a real toll on mental, emotional, and physical health.

Hypnotherapy works directly with the subconscious mind to help regulate the nervous system. In a relaxed, focused state, we can begin to calm the threat response. We can introduce new patterns of thinking and feeling that are more supportive and more grounded. We can work with the deep subconscious programming that is driving the anxiety and replace it with something more helpful.

I have worked with many clients who came to me in states of profound uncertainty and anxiety, feeling like they simply could not get a handle on the fear. And through hypnotherapy, they were able to develop a much greater sense of inner calm and stability. Not because their external circumstances changed, but because their internal response to those circumstances changed.

If you have been feeling chronically anxious, overwhelmed, or destabilized by the uncertainty in your life or in the world, hypnotherapy might be exactly the support you have been looking for.

Let me bring it all together.

Uncertainty is not new. It has always been part of the human experience. We have navigated it through wars and terrorist attacks and pandemics and economic crises and every manner of personal upheaval. And we have come through.

You have come through.

The goal is not to eliminate uncertainty, because that is not possible. The goal is to build a relationship with yourself that is solid enough to hold you even when the ground is shifting. To develop the inner resources, the routines, the faith, the presence, the resilience, that allow you to feel safe even when nothing is certain.

Because safety, real safety, does not come from knowing what the future holds. It comes from knowing that whatever it holds, you can handle it.

I will leave you with these words from Bob Goff:

“Embrace uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won’t have a title until much later.”

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Until next time, remember: your mind is powerful. Use it on purpose. And take care of yourself, because the world needs the best version of you.

Ted