One of our natural impulses as humans is to seek safety. We want solid ground beneath our feet. 

Some of us want to know what’s coming, and others want adventure, but we all want some assurance that things will work out.

The world hasn’t allowed that for some time.

The level of uncertainty is high. And for many of us, when uncertainty appears, our instinct is often to move away from it and towards what feels familiar, predictable, and safe.

There’s a lot of intelligence in that.

But there’s also something else hidden in uncertainty, if we allow ourselves to step into it a bit further. 

Some of the most meaningful moments of my life emerged from places where I didn’t know what would happen next.

Starting something new. Having a difficult conversation. Opening my heart after disappointment. Speaking what felt true when I wasn’t sure how it would be received.

Fear was often present, but so was something else.

Aliveness.

And over time I’ve become more confident that there’s a relationship between the two.

Not because uncertainty is inherently good. But because many of the things that matter most in life seem to ask something of us that certainty cannot provide.

Love requires uncertainty. Creativity requires uncertainty. Growth requires uncertainty.

And, uncertainty is here. It’s what-is right now.

Leaning into our humanity

There is a part of us that wants to map everything. To understand it all. To eliminate uncertainty before we take the next step.

But being fully human asks something different of us.

It asks us to remain available to wonder. Available to awe. Available to grief, joy, love, beauty, and all the emotions that make a life feel fully lived.

Not standing outside of life trying to understand it.

But participating in it. Feeling it. Allowing ourselves to be changed by it.

Community

And perhaps that’s why I’ve been reflecting so much on community lately.

Because I don’t think we’re meant to do this alone. 

One of the most powerful ways to find the aliveness hidden in uncertainty — and to find the courage to lean gently into the unknown — is to do so together.

Life expands when we prioritize relationships. Possibilities emerge when we pay attention to connection.

And these times are inviting us into deeper contact with our humanity. To tap into a capacity that has been encoded within us over millions of years of evolution — our ability to attune to one another.

So perhaps one of the deepest questions we can ask is not how to eliminate uncertainty, but who do we choose to be within it?

And who do we choose to be with while we’re in it?

With care,
Joel