When You Are Unsure

We all go through times when everything seems up in the air and we suddenly find ourselves unsure about life and the future. This can sometimes be triggered by times of change and emotional distress.

Many factors and emotions come to play at this time – fear, hope, determination, desires, dreams, hopes, reluctance, anxiety and sometimes the fight or flight mode is activated.

These times are challenging but they can be life affirming and transforming. We can see the future as a blank canvas that we get to create with the Master Creator or we can be paralysed because of the level of uncertainty that we feel.

I have lived through a few of these uncertain moments. Some of them have included packing up and moving nations, leaving great jobs and standards of living behind to embrace an uncertain future that required a fresh start.

Other times, the moves were within the same country but the emotions and challenges are the same – leaving an old life, friends and families behind and starting all over again.

One of the times I recently felt that way was when I needed to make a decision about leaving a company. I had enjoyed a fantastic career and blessed with many opportunities to grow my skills set but I also knew I needed a break. This wasn’t an easy decision. There were many ‘what ifs?’

What if I regret my decision, what if I change my mind and can’t find a job as good? What if… what if…. what if?

On the other hand, what if it’s the best and right decision I make, what if I get to embrace new opportunities, what if I take my career in another direction?

There were many ‘what ifs’ and I got to decide which ‘what ifs’ were going to determine my choice. One set of ‘what ifs’ were based on fear and the other set were based on faith and hope but it was my decision to make.

I made my choice to leave the job so you know which set of ‘what ifs’ won the day. On the back of leaving, I have embraced other opportunities including starting this Purposeful Me Blog and publishing a book titled, “The Purposeful Life Project”.

I now have the opportunity and time to serve in leadership capacity of various charitable organisations and I am still using my skills sets in ways I never quite imagined. I got back to the gym after an eighteen year hiatus which has transformed my health and wellbeing.

More importantly, I am confident that I can get back into work when and if I want to because I have a lot to offer.

So what have I learnt? I have learnt:

Never let fear override your faith and hope

Allow yourself to dream fresh and dream big

Be prepared to say goodbye to the old with no regrets and look forward to the new with excitement. There is no point living in the past.

Think, ‘the best is yet to come’ though you might need to work your socks off but expect to succeed when you do. Even if things don’t pan out as you expect, trust that you will have learnt some lessons.

Go into the future with all the blessings, encouragement and friendships from the past. Today I have friends dotted around the globe and we can still call on each other for a chat, a listening ear, an encouragement, a rebuke, challenge or a prayer.

The beauty of embracing uncertainty is that you get to become truly diverse in your experiences, skills, knowledge, relationships and it also means you have a lot of varied and rich resource to call upon.

You have stories of overcoming adversities, evidence that you are more capable than you thought and experience of moving forward despite your fears.

Uncertainty is not your enemy.

I want to leave you with a quote from Psalm 23 in the Bible which says, “The Lord is my Shepherd….. “Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I’m not afraid when you walk at my side. Your trusty shepherd’s crook makes me feel secure.”

‭‭‬‬‬‬Thanks for reading my post. Don’t forget to share this message with others. Have a great week.