Are You Comfortably Uncomfortable With What’s Ahead?

Navigating Today’s Unseen Future

I’ve had a string of conversations lately with folks who are wrestling with anxiety over the looming 2024 presidential election. 

The uncertainty is palpable. People want to know—need to know—what the outcome will be, because in their minds, stability and security hinge on the result. But the reality is, no one can truly predict the future. 

The coming days, with all their political fervor, social tension, and potential upheavals, lie ahead like a fog-covered path. We think we can control it, plan for it, or even outwit it, but Eastern philosophy teaches a counterintuitive truth……

…………the only way to prepare for the unknown is to get uncomfortable with it.

In Taoism, there is a concept called wu wei, or “effortless action.” It’s not about being passive or indifferent to what’s coming, but about aligning ourselves with the flow of life—responding without resistance to the unpredictability of events. 

Taoist sages would argue that the more we struggle against uncertainty, the more tangled we become in our own anxieties. When we fight to impose our will on what is inherently beyond control, we lose both peace of mind and perspective. 

Life unfolds in ways we cannot foresee or manage, and the wise response isn’t to anxiously brace for impact but to soften into acceptance of the unknown.

I’ve had to remind myself—and those around me—that in times like these, preparing for the unknown doesn’t mean arming yourself with answers. It means sitting with the discomfort of not knowing. 

Just as in meditation, where we face the uncertainty of the next thought or emotion, life demands we accept the impermanence and unpredictability of the future. 

Many of my friends and acquaintances are expecting the worst from this election cycle, convinced that the nation is on the brink of disaster. But these expectations, no matter how dire, are based on hypothetical projections rather than present reality.

The wise teachings of the Stoics also echo this sentiment. Seneca reminds us that much of the suffering we endure is anticipatory, not real. 

We are weighed down by imagined futures, many of which never come to pass. By feeding our anxieties about what might happen, we rob ourselves of the serenity that comes from staying grounded in the present. 

Taoist thought would add that resisting uncertainty is like standing in the middle of a river trying to stop the current. It’s not the river that will be harmed—it’s us. The river flows as it must, and the only way to navigate it is to swim with it, not against it.

It’s uncomfortable to sit with the unknown, especially when we’ve been trained to believe that control equates to safety. 

Our modern world tells us to forecast, predict, strategize, and have contingencies in place for every conceivable scenario. But what if we embraced the uncomfortable truth that we don’t know what lies ahead and that uncertainty is, in fact, the most natural state of things? 

What if our preparation for the future was less about gathering certainties and more about cultivating resilience, inner peace, and flexibility in the face of unpredictability?

This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t care about the election’s outcome, or that we should be indifferent to political realities. But we must balance our concern with the wisdom of non-attachment to a specific outcome. 

We prepare ourselves by becoming comfortable with whatever may come, by recognizing that our power lies not in controlling events but in choosing how we respond to them. 

In Taoism, this is known as Ziran, the natural state of being free and unfettered. It invites us to trust the unfolding of life and to know that whatever happens, we will find a way to adapt.

The question we must ask ourselves isn’t, “How do I protect myself from what’s coming?” but rather, “How do I strengthen my ability to meet the unknown with grace and wisdom?” That’s the real challenge. 

As the election nears, I’ve found myself leaning into the practices that help ground me in the present: qigong, meditation, walks in nature. These practices remind me that in every breath, I can let go of the need to know what’s next. 

I can let go of the illusion of control and instead cultivate presence, which is the only true foundation in an unstable world.

In the coming months, I encourage you if you’re anxious about the unknown to embrace this discomfort as a necessary part of life. Let’s stop pretending that certainty is possible or even desirable. 

True preparation lies in nurturing a mindset that is fluid, open, and ready to meet whatever arises—not with fear, but with curiosity and acceptance. 

This is not about resignation or fatalism; it’s about recognizing the limits of what we can control and finding strength in our ability to adapt, to bend like bamboo in the storm.

By getting comfortable with the unknown, we discover the deeper truth that life is always uncertain, whether we realize it or not. And in that realization lies freedom—the freedom to face the future not as something to be feared, but as a mystery to be lived.

This perspective draws from your experiences with Taoist wisdom, offering grounding insights during this time of uncertainty.

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