Uncertainty is a neurological opportunity

Many psychologists talk about embracing uncertainty as a neurological opportunity. I like to think about it like the process of learning how to walk.

As a baby is learning how to walk, they’re going to take a few steps. Their brain is going to start making neurological connections that they didn’t previously have before they took those steps. Along with those neurological connections, the baby’s going to keep walking and their mind is going to start to believe that they can do it.

There’s a loop between the neurological connections, the behavior, and their mind perceiving that they can do it, and they’re going to practice in a number of different settings. They’re going to fall sometimes. They’re going to get back up and their mind and their brain is going to understand. They’ll make some more neurological connections. Their mind will interpret that this is something that they can have confidence in until suddenly it’s something that they can easily do.

I want you to embrace uncertainty by taking responsibility when you have the ability to respond and not taking responsibility when you don’t have the capacity to respond. I want to encourage you to try new behaviors and I want to reinforce what you accomplished when you tried the new behaviors.

The anxiety loop is maintained by negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement isn’t inherently problematic. For instance, turning off your alarm in the morning is a helpful use of negative reinforcement. You get up really fast because you want to turn off that loud sound. Negative reinforcement is one way in which a behavior is strengthened. In the case of anxiety, if you avoid in order to reduce the uncomfortable stimulus that is anxiety, then avoidance is going to become more likely in the future.

The neurological opportunity is that you have the opportunity to do the opposite to change that pattern.

Not only should you do the opposite in the exact way that the avoidance is showing up, but this is why we want to think about exposure as something that is frequent, flexible, and willing.

It’s just like learning to walk and then run by practicing, getting good at it, and getting reinforcement through the feeling of confidence.