2020 has certainly given us a lot of room for personal growth, hasn’t it? So much that we thought was certain and clear has become uncertain and unclear. Life as we know it has undoubtedly changed in so many ways. We wanted in this 3 part series to explore this with you all and offer some insight that we are discovering ourselves and with our clients. 

When we work with people, many times we are working with them on not just the external parts of themselves, or the parts that they show the world, but also the internal parts of their psyche. When doing this we often are delving into not just the conscious mind but also looking at what is the subconscious doing? And how is that impacting on your behaviour and your emotions. 

If we remember that the subconscious is really a collection of stored conditioning and is only concerned with just one thing and that is preserving the human and keeping us above all safe! Then it is easy to understand that the pandemic and all the uncertainty that it has created for everyone on the planet, has put the subconscious into overdrive. So, what does this mean? 

This subconscious narrative, based in uncertainty is running on loop. To varying degrees for each individual but it would be hard as a participating member of humanity right now, not to have a narrative that is based in uncertainty. This will impact the decisions you make. Let’s look at an example.

So, with restrictions easing in some areas, you decide that you would like to travel and your usual destination for a break is in another state. So, you begin to consider timing of this break. Your subconscious narrative might sound like this. 

What if you book time off your job and you are downsized? What if you book a flight and the airline folds? What if there is a ‘second wave’ while I am away from home and I get stuck in isolation there? What if I catch the virus and get stuck there? What if the government pulls all the support packages and I can’t afford to pay my team while I take a break? Etc, etc, etc.  

The narrative in this place is looking for certainty where none may exist and will then perpetuate the feeling of uncertainty. Therefore, perpetuating the sense of things feeling unsafe! 

The way that this can show up in our lives is that we feel uneasy or even anxious. It can make you feel fractured and scattered in your thoughts. If you do not ask yourself the bigger questions of growth, that is, what is really happening here? What am I really feeling and why? You will be driven by that subconscious narrative and act accordingly.