Finding Steady Ground: Coping with Anxiety in Uncertain Times
When the future feels hard to read, whether it's the economy, the headlines, or a big life transition, anxiety tends to rise. If that's been happening for you lately, you're not overreacting. Feeling unsettled when so much is unknown is a normal response. Here's a quick look at why uncertainty affects us this way, and a few practical things that help.
Why Uncertainty Fuels Anxiety
Your brain likes to predict. It's always scanning ahead, trying to figure out what's coming so you can stay prepared. When the future is genuinely unclear, it doesn't get the certainty it wants, so it fills the gaps with worst-case scenarios. Uncertainty itself ends up registering as a kind of threat. For high-achievers and overthinkers, uncertainty can feel especially intolerable because your brain is used to solving, predicting, and preparing.
So if you're on edge right now, it doesn't mean something is wrong with you. Your nervous system is doing its job, just working overtime. That won't make the anxiety disappear, but it can take some of the self-judgment out of it. (And if self-judgment is a familiar companion, our posts on why everyone hates self-compassion and how to actually practice it are worth a read.)
Signs Your Anxiety Might Be Running High
Anxiety doesn't always announce itself. A few things to check in with yourself about:
Racing or looping thoughts
Trouble falling or staying asleep
More irritability than usual
Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
Physical tension, like tight shoulders, a clenched jaw, or an unsettled stomach
Doomscrolling, even when it makes you feel worse
Noticing these isn't cause for alarm. It's just useful information.
What Helps with Anxiety
The goal isn't to get rid of uncertainty, which is rarely possible anyway. It's to make it more tolerable. A few approaches worth trying:
Focus on what you can control. Draw a line between what you can influence and what you can't. You can't control the market or someone else's choices. You can control how you spend the next hour, whether you take a walk, or who you reach out to. Putting your energy toward the things you can actually affect quiets some of the spin. (If anxiety has you so depleted that even small tasks feel out of reach, this post on how to do… something is for you.)
Ground yourself in your body. Anxiety pulls you up into your head. Slow, long exhales help, since breathing out for longer than you breathe in signals safety to your nervous system. You can also try the 5-4-3-2-1 technique: name five things you can see, four you can hear, three you can touch, two you can smell, and one you can taste. Stepping outside amplifies all of this—we've written about why nature is such a powerful reset for the nervous system.
Set boundaries with the news. Staying informed is reasonable. Marinating in alarming updates all day isn't. Try picking a couple of specific times to check the news rather than letting it find you all day long. If your screen habits feel like they're running the show, our screen-free meals challenge is a low-stakes place to start reclaiming some attention.
Keep your routines. When the big picture feels shaky, small predictable rhythms become stabilizing. A consistent wake-up time, a morning coffee, a regular walk. Little anchors go a long way.
Stay connected. Anxiety tells you to withdraw, which usually makes things worse. Reaching out to people who care about you reminds your nervous system that you're not facing this alone.
When to Reach Out for Support
Most of the time, the strategies above can help you move through everyday anxiety. But it's worth considering professional support if worry is getting in the way of your sleep, your work, your relationships, or your ability to enjoy things, or if what you've tried just isn't helping.
Asking for help isn't a sign that you've failed to cope. It's a lot like seeing a doctor for a pain that won't go away. And therapy doesn't have to be an open-ended, years-long commitment—it can be a focused season of support that gives you a space to understand what's driving the anxiety and to build tools that actually fit your situation.
If anxiety, burnout, or uncertainty have been taking over your life, you can learn more about working with Young here. He works especially well with high-achievers, tech workers, students, and Asian American clients navigating anxiety, family pressure, identity, and trauma. If you’re looking for therapy that’s grounded, practical, and deeper than surface-level coping skills, Young can help you understand what’s really driving your anxiety.
Deep Dive Therapy provides online therapy throughout California and in-person therapy in Pacifica, serving clients from San Francisco, Daly City, San Mateo, Burlingame, and nearby communities.
