· By Case Kenny
How to deal with uncertainty...
This is from me to you.
Me - not a particularly enlightened person, just a dude who likes house music, a good arm and chest workout and saying things like yeeet.
You - a kind, caring person who might be a bit overwhelmed and anxious because of everything that’s going on right now.
What do you do when everything in life is uncertain? What do you do when you’re unsure about just about everything?
I think there’s a certain beauty in being uncertain. Why?
Because you can realize one thing: what it's like to be human.
Don’t roll your eyes just yet. As a dude just living his life, soaking it all up and doing his thing, I’ve realized that a lot of the time we lose sight of what it means to be human.
Ya know, literally, purely, human? Without distraction.
- Without the complications of your dating life - dating apps, being ghosted, one night stands, etc.
- Without the stress that comes from your career or lack thereof - not hitting quota, being slammed with work by your boss, hating your job every day but knowing you need it to pay rent.
- Without the stress that comes from thinking you’re behind in life - what happens when you hop on Instagram and see people traveling the world, going to exotic places and living their best lives. I think there's a certain beauty in all this uncertainty.
Because now is a good time to realize what it means to be human.
Now is a good time to remember words like patience, understanding, kindness, laughter, trust, empathy, strength, passion and vulnerability.
Before we let our live's distractions command our heads and hearts, those words were our superpowers.
But we tend to get so lost in the sauce of life that we forget those very things are the things that make us human and they are our superpower. - We forget what it means to be patient in our lives.
We want everything now! Right now!
- We forget what it means to understand and be empathetic, to get out of our own little bubble and remember that everyone is fighting their own fight.
- We forget what it means to be kind. We let mild inconveniences get to us - getting cut off in traffic, someone hogging the sidewalk, someone hitting too many floors on the elevator or your Postmates taking too long.
- We forget what it means to be strong and passionate, to be steadfast in what we love and who we love. We have grass is greener syndrome and forgot to hold onto what is important to us.
But now is a great time to embrace uncertainty for what it allows us to do: remember what it’s like to be human, to remember those values and to make them our superpower again.
That's how I’m dealing with all of this uncertainty right now.
This time is reminding me what it means to be patient. To be kind. To laugh. To trust. To be empathetic. To be strong, passionate and vulnerable. This time is reminding me to be a better man and to live those qualities.
This time reminds me that the greatest thing about being human is that we have the gift of choice. And now we have an opportunity to reset and to make a choice again to be human.
Realize that in this moment you exist and that you cannot control life, you can only experience it.
And that means experiencing it in all its forms - good and bad, light and dark. But throughout all of it, you are still human. And being human affords you so many gifts.
The ability to feel - to laugh, cry and everything in between.
Remember this and remember it when we’re on the other side of all this madness.
- Remember what it’s like to feel, to learn and to be driven to do better.
- Remember what it’s like to forgive yourself, to forgive others and to forgive your past.
- Remember what it’s like to be alone, the value of your independence and what it's like to take time to heal and be passionate about YOU.
- Remember what it’s like to be real, to not run from the things in your life, to face them and own them.
Remember that there is beauty in uncertainty.
We all have an opportunity right now to be the most human we can - to treat ourselves, our family, friends, strangers and the world around us with more humanity.
More patience. More understanding. More kindness. More laughter. More trust. More empathy. More strength. More passion. More vulnerability.
We have an opportunity right now to come out the other side remembering our humanity and making it our superpower again.