Written by: Rita May, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Uncertainty is everywhere, and it feels especially true nowadays. We don't know what's going to happen with the economy, political situations, or even our personal finance and health. It feels like so much is up in the air.
Food can become a release from the feelings of anxiety and fear triggered by uncertainty or it can feel like the only thing that can be controlled when everything else is so uncertain.
As humans, we crave security. We want to feel safe and have a sense of control over our lives and well-being. When we’re facing uncertainty, it can be emotionally draining, and we can get caught up in a spiral of worrying about all the potential bad things that could happen.
How food is used to cope with uncertainty
Many people use food to escape from these uncomfortable feelings. Food helps numb uncomfortable feelings or distracts us from them.
Over time using food to escape becomes a habit and if it‘s practised frequently, this habit leads to unwanted consequences such as weight gain and health problems. The habit itself becomes a larger problem than the uncomfortable feeling has ever been.
For others, their eating seems to be the only thing they have control over during uncertain times. They painstakingly regulate their food intake and body appearance in an attempt to establish control and manage internal uncertainty around life events. This can then easily become an unhealthy obsession.
Results of a study showed that people who had eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia) had higher intolerance to uncertainty than the control group. They seemed to control their eating, weight, and shape as a way to cope with their perceived lack of control over interpersonal and overall life stressors. Focusing on the eating disorder itself could be a means of gaining alternative control and easing negative emotions.
Some people can tolerate more uncertainty in life than others. They seem to enjoy taking risks and living unpredictable lives, while others find the uncertainty of life deeply distressing. But all of us have a limit.
If you feel overwhelmed by uncertainty and worry, it’s important to know that you’re not alone; many of us are in the same boat.
I’m also familiar with these feelings. As a former researcher and scientist, there was a lot of uncertainty in my life. My research projects and also my employment depended on my and my co-workers’ ability to secure funding. As an entrepreneur, my future is still uncertain, as my success depends on having clients to work with me.
When I talk with people in either of these fields almost all of them tell me that uncertainty is one of the most difficult things to deal with emotionally. It causes anxiety, fear and stress even if we’re not consciously aware of it.
Tips to help you cope with uncertainty
No matter how much time we spend worrying or strategizing, we can’t predict the future or always control what happens. But there are some ways to cope when you feel overwhelmed by uncertainty and worry.
Control What You Can Control
The truth is, many of the issues causing anxiety in your life are beyond your control. This includes global issues as well as problems in your personal life.
What you need to realize is that the weight of the world is NOT on your shoulders, even though it can certainly seem like it at times. Anxiety tells you that you should be worried about solving problems that are way out of your hands.
In reality, focusing on the issues that you actually can resolve is a much healthier response.
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
The Serenity Prayer is used in recovering from addiction. Yet, the actual meaning behind the prayer has nothing to do with addiction at all, as it was written as an ode to developing deeper insight and initiating self-improvement.
This phrase is so simple, and yet so powerful and you do not have to be religious to benefit from its powerful message.
If the problem is within your control then make a plan on how you will solve it.
If it’s out of your control, list the reasons why you cannot control it, and then let it go.
“True security lies in the unrestrained embrace of insecurity — in the recognition that we never really stand on solid ground, and never can.” — Oliver Burkeman
Limit Worry Time
Worry is like an avalanche; it can take over our minds and steamroll us right into a state of anxiety.
Commit to yourself to limit your time to worry to 15 minutes a day then do not allow your thoughts to go back to those worries anymore that day. This will be difficult at first but with practice, you can do it.
During this time also think about whether you actually spend this time with problem-solving, information gathering, and brainstorming solutions or you are just catastrophising without making any progress and just thinking the same thing over and over.
Be Present
Stay in the moment instead of getting too wrapped up in the future. This means focusing most of your physical and mental energy on what is going on right now. It also means taking a step back and observing your thoughts and feelings in a situation without judging them.
This can help you break the cycle of catastrophic thinking, interrupt the worries and worst-case scenarios running through your mind, and become more comfortable with uncertainty.
Although it may seem obvious when stated, the only point in time in which you will EVER sure to exist is right now. Ironically, most of us dedicate the bulk of our mental energy to the past or future.
Anxiety is great at causing us to replay past mistakes in our heads and constantly worry about things that have yet to occur.
Trying to constantly deal with your entire past and future makes it virtually impossible to appreciate what is right in front of you.
Focus on Gratitude
Gratitude is the antidote of worry. You cannot feel anxious and grateful at the same time. We can use the power of gratitude to shift our mindset to all we do have, which creates comfort and inner peace and serenity.
When you feel worried and your stress is at its peak, write a gratitude list, keep it handy and look it over often. Write new ones daily if your worries are troubling you.
Question your thoughts
One of the most important stress-reduction tactics I've ever learned is to question my thoughts. In uncertain times, it's especially important not to believe thoughts that paint the worst-case scenario.
Worst-case scenarios can give us a sense of the risks involved so that we can take steps to avoid disaster, therefore, it can be useful to consider them.
But when we ruminate over them and we start believing these thoughts, we tend to react emotionally as if the worst case is already happening. We feel sad about things we haven't lost yet and react to events that haven't happened yet, which makes us feel frightened, fearful, and insecure when we're actually just simply reacting to our thoughts even if nothing bad has happened to us.
Instead of buying into every stressful thought, we can start questioning our thoughts and think logically about the probability of the thing we worry about actually happening. We can even try to estimate the percentage of how likely it is to really become a reality.
We can also find silver linings to replace ruminations. This counters our natural tendency to overestimate risks and negative consequences.
It’s Okay To Not Feel Okay
Anxiety can also make us feel isolated.
People who deal with anxiety may feel like they're the only ones going through this. So we may think that everyone else is happier than we are and that we wouldn't be accepted if anyone knew how anxious we are.
But it's important to realize that this isn't true. Everyone has some degree of anxiety or mental struggle.
You are far from alone. And you don't have to go through life pretending everything is okay when it isn't.
Journal to process your feelings
Writing is one of the greatest ways to process feelings; it calms you and can be a very helpful tool in working through difficult feelings.
Take a piece of paper and write out all the things that are bothering you. Brainstorm all your worries onto the paper. Continue to do this until you feel that you have written down every frustration and concern that you can think of. You‘ll know you’re done when you feel lighter, as though a burden has been taken off of your shoulders.
Since this article is already long, I suggest you check out my three blog posts below about how to deal with difficult emotions and negative thoughts to prevent using food to numb or distract yourself from them.
If you’ve decided to finally stop emotional eating book a free 1-hour call here and let‘s talk about your specific issues and how I could help you.
Rita May, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Rita May is a scientist turned Emotional Eating and Health Coach. She helps driven professionals and entrepreneurs who are successful in other areas of their life but struggle with their weight because of emotions and stress-eating.
Her coaching method is based on three pillars: the science of nutrition, psychology, and a bit of spirituality.
She doesn’t believe in the one-diet-fits-all approach. Instead of giving you a diet plan, she helps you choose a way of eating that you enjoy because that’s the one you will be able to sustain in the long term.
However, nourishing your body is not enough. Our well-being is also affected by stress, relaxation, thoughts, emotions, beliefs, joy, self-awareness, our personal history, and so much more.
Using her Mindfulness to Food Freedom method and How to stop eating your feelings workbook, she helps her clients eliminate emotional and stress-related overeating or binge eating. She designed her Healthy Habits for Permanent Weight Loss program to help busy professionals and entrepreneurs lose weight and improve their health with just a little time investment per week so they can focus on their work, business, and family.
