Navigating Seasons of Uncertainty: Faith and Flourishing in the Unknown
February 24th, 2024: Article Published for The Reinvention Series, Written by Charlotte Jade Askew
Photo by Jonathan Sanchez
Opening with a personal encounter, Charlotte illustrates her current relationship with seasons of uncertainty and traversing the unknown.
It is often in seasons of waiting that we develop our character, our strength, and our capacity to live out what the writer describes as a more audacious story.
In this article, we succintly explore the 4 facets of flourishing during transitional times, highlighting “the version of you that believes you are capable of hard things. That knows you will prevail and emerge from challenges transformed. A different but more beautiful version of you.”
The expansion comes in “cultivating faith in the larger scope of your life—a grander, more audacious plan than you had previously conceived for yourself.”
Written by Charlotte Jade Askew
(click here to read about the writer)
Welcome to The Reinvention Series.
I was at a dinner party last week, visiting a friend out of state. Some people I knew, others I did not. A woman I met there asked me where I’d travelled from. I started explaining that I didn’t have a permanent home at the time. I’d been living in the USA up until late last year and had come home to Australia to decide whether I would return to the states. A strange look came over her face, almost as if she’d suddenly realized she had hives on the underside of both her arms. I hastily clarified that I was waiting to hear about some university applications I’d made to schools in the USA and was unlikely to receive a decision until March.
‘So, you can’t make any decisions until March?’ She pushed back from the table, perhaps in fear this type of uncertainty was catching. ‘God, I couldn’t handle that.’
Photo by Benigno Hoyuela
Before we dive in further, here is exactly what we’re covering in this article:
*you can click below to navigate directly to the section you wish to read, or continue with the story as you were
1. One version of me face to face with another (a self reckoning)
2. How did I make that transition from anxiety to peace? (what was it that made the difference?)
3. Do not confuse this contentment with not wanting (trust—where desires and intentions meet deep-rooted faith)
4. Cultivating faith in the larger scope of your life
5. The 1st facet of flourishing (when you decide you will rise)
6. The 2nd facet of flourishing (where you’re fully supported by murky waters)
7. Our brain’s attempt at creating safety (control, preparation, and developing in this season of transformation)
8. The 3rd facet of flourishing (fluent in the unspoken)
9. Creating an opportunity to listen (our relationship with white space)
10. The 4th facet of flourishing
11. Voyaging the mess of change (life’s ultimate task)
Photo by Jack Delulio
Sitting with that realization, a kind of reckoning within myself:
one version of me face to face with another
What occurred to me, amidst her nervous laughter, was that I could. Not with any kind of superiority but rather a sense of astonishment because three years ago, I would have felt the same way she did. In fact, I would have likely experienced a complete nervous breakdown at the prospect of not knowing where I might live, let alone which country I might live in. I would not have been able to swallow the ambiguity of living in limbo.
It was an odd sensation, sitting with that realization—a kind of reckoning within myself. One version of me face to face with another.
Photo by Toni Frost
How did I make that transition—from anxious waiting to peace?
what distinguishes a body that can allow the mystery to unfold?
Here I am, living in my sister's house, all my things in a storage locker in Texas, wondering where I’ll end up. And not only am I okay with waiting until March for an answer, but I’m also 100% okay if I am offered a university placement or if I am not.
I feel entirely at peace with this lack of peace, and it occurred to me, with the woman’s reaction, that is somewhat of a superpower.
How did I make that transition from anxiety to peace? What was it that made the difference?
The prevailing feeling and immediate answer is trust. Trust in myself and trust in something grander. Whether you want to call that God or the universe or fate, it makes no difference to me. It’s a feeling at the core of my being that what is meant for me will find me. Trusting that whatever shifts and transformations come from this season of waiting will be for my highest good. To be able to hold space for that has been a process, one that I will share below.
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Do not confuse this contentment with not wanting:
trust—where desires and intentions meet deep-rooted faith
But please don’t confuse this contentment with not wanting. Of course, I have desires and intentions for my life. What I’m saying is that I am okay with the timing. I am okay with doing the most I can do in this moment (which at this stage is waiting), and I am okay with trusting myself to cope with whichever direction the decision falls. I trust myself to feel through the emotions and, if need be, pivot, guided by my own internal compass. I don’t feel the need to ruminate and worry over a result that is out of my hands and yet to be confirmed. I’m not trying to plan for where I’ll be or what I’ll need to do or organize. I am at peace in the not knowing.
This level of trust is one of the most pivotal and transformative things we can learn in life.
Photo by Kateryna Ivasiva
Cultivating faith in the larger scope of your life:
a new version of you that believes you are capable of hard things, capable of living into the more audacious plan
There is immense power in recognizing something that is mentally helpful to think about and something that isn’t. Still, the relief does not come through this cognitive distinction but through a new iteration of yourself. A version of you that believes you are capable of hard things. That knows you will prevail and emerge from challenges transformed. A different but more beautiful version of you. It’s in cultivating faith in the larger scope of your life—a grander, more audacious plan than you had previously conceived for yourself.
Photo by Thought Catalog
The 1st facet of flourishing—trust:
when you decide you will rise
Learning to trust myself came experientially through situations I grappled to surface from. Hard things that proved to my consciousness: I will rise.
Reflect on your own life thus far:
Where have you risen?
What have you come through?
Collate a list of evidence for your sovereignty. You have emerged through so much, perhaps scathed, but always a newer iteration of yourself, always transformed. Notice who you are because of where you’ve been. You deserve to trust yourself.
You can start teaching yourself to trust by choosing hard things and honouring your obligations. If you say you want to do something, do it. If you set an alarm for yourself, 3-2-1 and roll out of bed. Do the things that feel difficult. Not every day, all day, but often enough that you feel challenged and experience the version of yourself that can push through. That version will start to grow, to become emboldened and wiser, and eventually, it will emerge in full expression, integrated into your whole self.
Photo by Ryan Moreno
The 2nd facet of flourishing—accepting:
we are destined for unknowns, fully supported by the murky water
The second facet is to allow. To let be the uncertainties that exist. The one assurance I can make you is that I can make you no assurances. We, in this human experience, are destined for unknowns. You have not experienced your last, and neither have I. Battling against them to secure some known future proves futile.
There comes a moment when we must sit—and relax—in the chaos.
Let go of the riverbank and drift out into the murky water. You’ll probably feel like you’re drowning for a moment (perhaps several long moments), but eventually you’ll realize your legs are kicking, and you can keep your nose above the eddy. You might even let your body rise and your head tip back and lay there, in fact, fully supported by that murky water.
Photo by Christopher Campbell
Preparing for an unknown future is our brain’s attempt at creating safety:
the suffering exists in the space of attempting to control
We plan and overthink because we cannot fathom the empty field before us, and we don’t want to feel the vacant, gaping unknown of what could be or might not be. The truth is that the suffering exists in this space of preparation, sometimes more so than the outcome itself.
Consider my example of not knowing where I might be living this year. Thinking about the applications I submitted to universities and where I might be accepted (or not) provides me no solace, nor does it affect what is within my capacity to control. In the same way, worrying over where I might live and finding a new house, either in the USA or Australia, contributes nothing at all to the resolution of that dilemma. I need to hear a decision on my applications before there is anything to be decided in the space of my living situation. Rumination only generates feelings of stress and frustration, spinning myself in circles and overthinking outcomes for which there cannot be any decisions at this point.
developing in this season of transformation
Instead, if I can allow the uncertainty and bear sitting with the unknowns, knowing only that whatever comes, I will be able to make decisions for my highest good, I am undisturbed and unperturbed for the day-to-day of my life in this season of transformation. The decisions I do need to make are made with a clear mind, and my bodily experience is one of pervasive calm.
Photo by Jason Leung
The third facet of flourishing—faith:
attunement to your internal compass, fluent in the unspoken
I know that believing in something greater often brings to mind religion, but whether you believe in God or not is not the focus of this conversation. Faith is more about what is happening within you than anything else. You and your attunement to your internal compass. We all have things we want and directions we desire our life to go in. It’s often stronger when we’re children. Less of life has gotten in the way, and we unabashedly declare our desires—throw ourselves fiercely at the things we love. As we grow, we allow other things to cloud in and the waters dirty, and we start curbing the things we want to say—pulling the veil over our true selves in an effort to present in a certain way to others.
Faith is about returning to your intuitive self—the inner guidance you were born with. If you’re silent long enough and listen closely enough, you’ll find you often know what you want. There’s a voice in there that doesn’t speak but offers guidance in a language you were once fluent in but may have dampened, even forgotten.
Photo by Brandi Redd
Creating enough space to listen:
are we brave enough to leave space?
Bringing yourself back to yourself is about silence. Sitting with yourself without interference or distraction. We rarely leave white space in our lives anymore. Instead, we move through the world in states of constant stimulation. We have our phones out if we’re in line at the grocery store. Public transport? Earphones are in, and we’re scrolling. Whenever we’re not occupied, we find a way to be. We rarely sit with ourselves anymore. Observing ourselves in silence. Observing our minds. The sensations in our bodies. The thoughts that float and flicker across our consciousness. Being with yourself this way is the journey to re-establishing your inner compass.
Inquire:
How often do you sit with yourself in silence?
Photo by Davide Ragusa
The fourth facet of flourishing—gratitude:
a rather incredible distinction, a definitive indicator that you are, in fact, alive
If you’ve read my work here before, you know we are circling back to this. (It truly is that relevant.) Existing in a state of reverence for the existence you have been blessed with. We do, after all, get to be here. When you consider it, that is a rather incredible distinction. We get to be here, as opposed to have to be here. We get to know what chocolate tastes like, the salty zap of sunlight on bare skin, and the smell of wildflowers. Tiny, innocuous experiences that slip by our awareness but offer so much in the way of joy.
Part of trust is not only being able to hold the experience of being uncertain but cultivating gratitude for it—a definitive indicator that you are, in fact, alive and able to experience the many facets of human experiences. If you can find a way to appreciate each of your experiences without thought for how you might label them as enjoyable or not, you’ll find a peace beyond what you might have thought possible.
Voyaging the mess of change:
eventually, the current of the clear water wins
Have you ever poured water into a glass of dirt? If you have enough water and you keep pouring, the dirt is eventually cleared by the water's force. For a while, though, you keep pouring and pouring, and all the dirt only muddies the water, reeling and coiling like something alive so that the glass appears choked and overcome with the mess of change. It might look like it will never clear, but eventually, the current of the ensuing water wins out, and the dirt is displaced from the glass entirely.
Sometimes, you’re sitting in a glass of crystal-clear water. Sometimes, you’re in the tornado as the change ensues. I’d venture to say life’s task is to endure both.
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Article Written by Charlotte Jade Askew, In-House Writer at Casey Jacque
Charlotte is a Writer, Play Therapist, and Energetic Psychology Coach living in rural Texas. Born and raised on the rugged West Australian Coastline, she is a holistic practitioner, working with the conscious and subconscious mind to cocreate transformative, mindbody healing. Her affinity for being out-of-doors rather than in, means it’s likely that when she’s not with clients or writing, you’ll find her with her horses or barefoot, sipping organic coffee.
Let’s Connect! Instagram: @inner_chatter
Read More: About the Writer
