It is beyond dispute that many people are experiencing a lot of uncertainty and sufferings in 2023. Usually, at the end of the year, we hope for better and happier life in the coming new year. However, many people project that the world will continue to be chaotic and difficult in 2024. Given these predictions, a lot of people may face anxiety and fear when trying to make new year resolutions. It is because given the development of AI, uncertainty in economic and political situations, and global warming, we are facing a future with much more unpredictability and uncertainties. As people who are prone to anxiety feel very uncomfortable with being out of control, they may experience a lot of stress and sufferings in the face of all these foreseeable challenges. How can we cope with the possible chaos and difficulties in 2024?
It is our nature to avoid pain and sufferings and crave for pleasure and happiness. As a result, we try our best to prevent sufferings due to uncertain things happening to us. For instance, a client of mine was reluctant to send out CV for job application because she worried about possible uncertainty in job interviews and the outcome. She knew she needed to find a job, but she worried a lot about failure in job search. To prevent herself suffer from negative emotions, such as anxiety in job interviews and sadness in failure, she restricted herself by not trying at all. Another example is a client of mine quitted his job as he could not tolerate the political issues in his workplace. After promoting to middle management level, he faced a lot of stress in politics in the company. He thought that he needed to give up all his assets in the field he was experienced in because he did not want to due with politics. In these two examples, both were trying to escape from sufferings in their lives. The question is, can we really escape from our sufferings in life? The answer is no. No matter how hard we tried, we would face sufferings in our lives. It is because these two clients still face sufferings after escaping from their initial sufferings. The lady would face depressive mood due to sense of failure without a gainful employment. She would feel useless if she idled at home all the time. The gentleman would face anxiety for not knowing his future career path and worry about his financial condition.
In view of the ever-changing circumstances in our environment, it is impossible for us to stick to our old pattern of coping if we want to survive in this world. Our old survival mechanism may be obsolete throughout the years, and we need to generate new coping pattern to deal with the chaos and uncertainties in this world. For instance, a client of mine used to engage in binge eating junk food for managing her depressive mood in relation to her problematic family issues. As she got older, she could not maintain this survival coping mechanism because her physical health was deteriorating. It is important for us to keep alert to our automatic pilot in coping with our life challenges. Given the uncertainty in this world, being flexible in our coping mechanism is a new survival requirement.
To recapitulate, we need to accept the fact that suffering is inevitable in our life. We need to embrace our suffering and live in the present moment. With this capacity, we paradoxically can enjoy our present moment more. We will feel calmer and more grounded. It also gives us courage to face our challenges given the chaos and uncertainties in 2024. Furthermore, with all the unpredictability in the coming year, we need to be flexible in our coping mechanism to different challenges in our lives. With these two realizations in our mind, we may face 2024 with less anxiety and worry. We can have the courage to still make some new year resolutions. Happy New Year!
