Living with Uncertainty

Uncertainty. How do countries and people deal with it? Avoid it? Countries actually have been compared and ranked on how comfortable they are with uncertainty. This ranking is the result of a study which looked at how culture affected workplace values (Geert Hofstede). One of the things studied was how uncertainty avoidance affected the workplace.

It turns out, depending on the country, tolerance for uncertainty differs. Certain countries try to avoid uncertainty. Greece, Portugal and Guatemala are the top three ranked countries for high uncertainty avoidance. Generally, in an effort to avoid uncertainty, these countries are heavily rule oriented and driven. In contrast, countries with low uncertainty avoidance are driven more by creativity to deal with uncertainty rather than rules. Sweden, Denmark, Jamaica and Singapore are the lowest ranking countries in uncertainty avoidance. The United States is in the middle range.

All of this got me to thinking about how individual people deal with uncertainty. How personalities affect how we handle uncertainty… because we’ve all gone through times in our lives when things are up in the air and there’s no telling what will happen. They could fall this way or they could fall that way. And how do we deal with walking through each day shouldering this uncertainty? It seems to me uncertain times are more difficult for planners—you know who you are—We plan because we want to avoid uncertain situations from occurring. We make reservations. We don’t wait until the restaurant or hotel tells us there is no room and then try to creatively find a solution. Instead we plan so that we don’t have to creatively find a solution. But what about when we can’t plan because we have no idea how our lives are going to fall into place? Or when they will fall into place? It could be one month… It could be one year… And that uncertainty, that lack of predictability, causes stress.

What has helped me navigate these ambiguous times, surprisingly enough, has been my training as a mediator. As a mediator I am, in essence, a third party trying to guide the participants toward a resolution. While doing so, I don’t have any attachment to any one particular resolution. I have no idea how things will end. Yet, I am able to hold in my mind at least two (sometimes more) potential outcomes, simultaneously. And I’m able to be ok with any of those outcomes.

Of course, this is more difficult to do when I’m no longer the mediator and the potential outcome will affect me personally. But the process is the same. If X happens, then I will be going down this path. If Y happens, I will be going down that path. I’m not attached to either path. When looking at the potential outcomes in this way, I’m not anxious about the outcome. Instead, I’m living the journey. I’m interested in the mystery. I’m wondering what lesson each path has to teach me. So, even as a planner with no plans because I have no idea what’s going to happen, I’m able to – I wouldn’t say embrace the uncertainty—but view it from a different angle—which alleviates the stress in my life associated with that uncertainty.

Patricia Nemeth received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). She earned her Juris Doctorate and Masters of Labor Law degree from Wayne State University School of Law. She is the founding partner of Nemeth Law, P.C. which celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2017. Patricia decided to start a personal blog because she wanted to write about topics other than the law.