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Dealing with uncertainty

9 March 2021

No matter what stage of study you’re at, this past year has brought a lot of uncertainty and questions for all of us. Final year undergraduate student Julie Colonna reflects on how she’s been managing this, and has come up with a few tips to help you out.

A sunset with a sign pointing in different directions

Change is the only constant in our lives. Though our minds enjoy the comfort of stability, certainty and security, nothing stays the same. Although uncertainty may seem unsettling, it is often necessary: our bodies change, our mindsets change, our environment changes — and if we can get comfortable with that, our minds can be at ease, even free.

Shift your focus on what you can control. We can’t control what will happen next during the pandemic, but we can shift our focus to the now.

If you are worried about job applications like I am, or just future orientation as a whole, think about what the wonderful Dr. Rachel E. Holmes told her English students: 'don't hustle, align. Destroy the idea that you have to be constantly working or grinding in order to be successful. Embrace the concept that rest, recovery and reflection are essential parts of the progress towards a successful and ultimately happy life.' 

Here are some things you can take a look at right now to feel grounded in the present, to align.

Cooking 

If you haven’t tried the viral Tiktok feta and cherry tomato pasta, now is the time! You just need to put the cherry tomatoes, peeled garlic and feta in the oven, doused in olive oil and seasoning. Then add cooked pasta and stir well, with maybe some basil on top.

Yoga

Try Yoga with Adriene's uncertainty exercise

Books

Jo Shapcott’s Of Mutability poetry collection. This very small book costs less than £6 on Amazon at the moment — you can also grab one second hand for just a pound. Jo Shapcott wrote this collection to cope with her breast cancer, that she eventually recovered from. It is a life-affirming reminder that we should honour our bodies, down to each individual cell, and be thankful for our everyday lives (even if it’s just for the bubbles when we’re washing the dishes).

Meditation

Headspace has a meditation category called ‘Weathering the Storm’, specifically for the pandemic.

My personal favourite is the ‘Remember the Blue Sky’ analogy: our mind is like the sky, a blank canvas where our thoughts, like clouds, scatter themselves. Sometimes those clouds turn gray, stormy, even terrifying — but no matter what the weather of your life looks like, above it lies the blue sky. When you’re in a plane and you fly through the clouds, you remember that the blue sky never leaves us. Beyond our stress and anxiety, our incapacity to control our thoughts, there is inner peace.

You can also try the 10mins ‘Adapting to Sudden Change’ meditation, or watch the ‘Impermanence and Change’ expert guidance animation.

Be kind to your future self

If you do want to focus on what’s coming, try thinking about your more short-term future self. Try some of the following to be kind to your future self:

  • Make a delicious breakfast the night before — so you have something to look forward to when you get out of bed (it’s never too late to start the banana bread craze, there's even a vegan recipe you could try)
  • Spring clean. I’ve been selling my unloved clothes on Vinted!
  • Sort out your finances. Try an app-based bank like Revolut to track your expenses better. They give you a recap at the end of the week to show you where your biggest purchases were and monthly/yearly statistics (I also only carry this card and never put all my money on it so that if I ever experience theft I’ll only lose a fraction). 
  • Learn about your sleep habits. Download the app Sleep Cycle. It records you while you sleep and tells you some really specific stats about your sleeping habits. Try the one week free trial for all the benefits and then just cancel it! After a week you’ll get a better understanding of what you’re doing right or wrong.
  • Order groceries in. Try Riverford if you’re swamped, quarantined or grocery shopping makes you anxious. My fridge is always stock piled with fruits and veggies so I’m more likely to eat healthily — and the farm produce is just delicious, their apples taste like little sweets. Recyclable packaging, recipes included and priced at £9 to £24.
  • Journal! I have a one line a day journal and it makes me so happy. At first, I started off with an impersonal tone and progressively let my guard down which made my entries feel more cathartic. It’s so silly but summarising your day makes it seem like everything is under control. Plus, your future self will have something to look back on.

Julie Colonna, BA English Language and Literature