Every time I feel anxious, I reach for this seven-minute headspace meditation—here’s how it helps
How embracing uncertainty made me a calmer person
How well do you deal with uncertainty?
To me, uncertainty can feel perilous.
I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder nearly 15 years ago and have experienced multiple periods of upheaval over those years.
The world is chaotic, so being able to roll with the punches and remain resilient is a skill I needed to cultivate.
I recently discovered the Headspace meditation “Find Beauty in Uncertainty”, which reminded me just how important it is to let go of control.
Now, when I’m feeling overwhelmed, I revisit this meditation and learn something different every time.
The meditation for dealing with uncertainty
Meghan Mitchell, a course instructor for Headspace Training Institute, explains how this meditation can help overthinkers.
“It works by altering your relationship with your thoughts,” she says.
“When faced with uncertainty, the mind’s default habit is to jump ahead straight into overthinking, planning or worrying to establish a sense of control.
“This practice trains you to recognize when the mind gets caught searching for answers, using gentle breathing to anchor your awareness in the present moment and the physical, rather than an imagined future,” she explains.
The more you follow this practice, the easier it becomes to embrace uncertainty in your everyday life.
Mitchell tells Fit&Well this is because it rewires the habit loop we get stuck in, so uncertainty stops triggering the need to control things.
“Instead, it becomes a signal to rest back into the present moment.”
What I learned from doing this meditation
1. I released my need for control
My biggest takeaway from doing this meditation is realising how much calmer I can feel when I try to control a situation less.
Instead of immediately scrambling for solutions when a problem arises, this meditation has helped me remember to take a breather first.
Even with seemingly urgent issues, pausing to ask myself if this matters and is there anything I can do about this now has been really helpful.
“When you let go of the need to dictate every outcome, you release the unsustainable burden of trying to manage the unmanageable,” says Mitchell.
“The hyper-fixation on control is a survival instinct keeping your nervous system in a constant state of fight-or-flight.”
I can certainly relate to this. At one point in my early 20s, I was so paralyzed by my fear of uncertainty that I couldn’t leave my house.
I became agoraphobic for about six months, having panic attacks every time I stepped outside.
This was exhausting and became worse every time I tried to open the front door.
I would jump straight into a familiar spiral of anxious thinking instead of first understanding what I was scared about and then addressing that.
The fear became bigger than the problem itself.
“Going with the flow is an active shift from this state of resistance to adaptation,” says Mitchell.
“This conserves cognitive energy and fosters emotional resilience. It allows you to respond to life’s shifts with agility rather than reacting.”
While this meditation wasn’t around when I was dealing with agoraphobia, it reminded me that it is possible to step in to interrupt negative thoughts, and when to do it to prevent them from spiraling out of control.
2. I seek out new experiences
I’ve gone from feeling utterly terrified from not knowing what will happen in any particular moment, to feeling genuinely excited by the possibility of new experiences.
“Building comfort with the unknown is like training a muscle,” says Mitchell.
“Small daily practices help reset your mind’s reaction over time. You can start by setting aside a few minutes each day for a micro-pause to sit quietly, let go of problem-solving and anchor in your breath.”
She recommends leaning into small, safe unpredictabilities.
“Try changing a daily route, whether a walk or driving to the shops,” she says.
I now deliberately get lost on dog walks to develop that comfort in uncertainty.
Instead of panicking because I don’t know where I am, I remind myself that I am safe, walking in neighborhoods near my home with plenty of shops and people who can help if I get into trouble.
At least once a week, I pack a bottle of water and a snack and take a route I don’t know, expanding my experience of the local area and discovering hidden places in the process.
I love my exploration walks, and they are a great way to flex my comfort-in-uncertainty muscle.
3. I reframed my relationship with uncertainty
The more I work on accepting feeling uncomfortable when faced with small uncertainties, the easier it gets to apply the principle to larger problems.
“Though uncertainty is often equated with fear, it is actually a gateway to possibility,” says Mitchell.
“Stepping into uncertainty can be stepping into growth, fresh ideas or unexpected joys.”
Instead of focusing on the worst possible outcome, I consider how things could go well. I remind myself of all the negative situations I’ve overcome in the past.
“Ultimately, embracing uncertainty builds true self-trust; confidence doesn’t come from knowing what will happen next, but from knowing you have the capacity to adapt to whatever arises.”
If you’re not sure how to do this, Mitchell suggests you check your language. Does it embrace uncertainty or avoid it?
Instead of thinking “I need to know for sure,” she suggests telling yourself that “I don’t have all the answers right now, and that is okay.”
“Releasing the demand for certainty shifts your mindset from fear or threat to curiosity. It transforms unknown variables into opportunities,” she says.
4. It helped my relationships with other people
My fear of uncertainty didn’t just affect me but those around me too.
I could be awkward, inflexible and difficult to plan around, which I’m sure those who love me found hard at times.
While some of it was, in my view, necessary—it’s good to know when the next bathroom stop will be on a road trip—going through a mindset change made things easier for others around me too.
Instead of demanding to know where we could stop for a restroom break so I could plan my water intake around it, now I can trust that we will find somewhere eventually.
Mitchell holds a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) in metaphysics, philosophy and theology.
She is a coach manager at the Headspace Mental Health Coach Training Institute, leading a team of mental health coaches and developing the Headspace education program.
