For over a year now, each day has felt like a coin toss. So many things we took for granted suddenly assumed an aura of uncertainty followed by many question marks. The experts say we are equipped emotionally to deal with occasional doses of unpredictability—in fact, the situation may actually energize us—but we need time to recuperate, from a dose of surprises or we become exhausted, angry, and confused. Here are a few interesting facts about uncertainty:

• Experts say it is better, healthier, to plan on something bad happening than to be uncertain and then surprised when it occurs. When we know the worst is coming, we can prepare for it, acknowledge it, and move to the next step: dealing with it.
• When you need to scrap Plan A and move to Plan B, you are on the right track. Moving to your back-up plan is preferable to denial and procrastination. Do not think putting a decision off is coping with it.
• A positive approach to uncertainty is to reevaluate your ‘to do’ list and reprioritize. It will give you a positive boost if you can eliminate extraneous things that you do out of habit rather than necessity.
• Face uncertainty by recognizing and respecting your feelings and validating that they exist.

And you can always fall back on the time-tested ‘eat healthy, exercise, don’t smoke, don’t drink alcohol’ routine which has been a coping strategy long before Covid-19 came along.