How Uncertainty & Anticipatory Anxiety Can Keep You Stressed Out & Stuck | Joy Lab Podcast [ep. 212]

#anxiety #stress #resilience #joylabpodcast
Consider this: Stress will likely surge higher when you are uncertain about an outcome compared to when you're faced with a certainly bad outcome. Sounds wild, right?! Think about the scenarios though... Would you rather be told you're going to lose your job next month or have your boss tell you that there's a 50-50 chance you'll lose it during the next month? In those 50-50 scenarios, we can get stuck in a cycling stress response and no clear idea of what to do next to alleviate it. At least if you know you're going to lose your job, you have a clear next step: start job hunting. That's what we're digging into in this episode. We'll explore different types of uncertainty (estimation uncertainty, irreducible uncertainty, and volatility), why we stress over the unknown, and how to navigate these experiences in everyday life.

Key moments:
00:00 Introduction to Joy Lab Podcast
00:31 Exploring Uncertainty and Anxiety
00:50 Scientific Study on Stress and Uncertainty
01:23 Imaginary Experiment: Facing Snakes and Shocks
06:39 Understanding Estimation and Irreducible Uncertainty
16:02 The Role of Volatility in Stress
19:25 Adapting to Uncertainty and Stress
26:20 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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Transcript, sources, and links mentioned available at: https://www.joylab.coach/podcasts/joy...

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