The Anxiety of Waiting – Why Uncertainty Feels So Hard

If waiting for a text, results or a decision sends your mind spinning, you're not alone.

Hi, I'm Dr. Andrea Zorbas. I'm a psychologist from Therapy Now SF. Waiting can trigger intense anxiety, even when nothing bad is happening. So here's why it feels so overwhelming and how to ground yourself in the meantime.

The first piece is that your brain hates uncertainty. So it interprets this

"not knowing"

as a threat. And so because of that, it fills in the blanks with worst case scenarios.

Next, waiting amplifies your overthinking. So with nothing to do, your mind likes to make things up. It likes to replay possibilities. It likes to ramp up the "what if" thinking.

Next, false control will make it worse. Refreshing your browser page or checking your text messages and rehearsing outcomes doesn't actually soothe anxiety, it ends up actually feeding it.

What you're gonna wanna do is you're gonna shift into grounding mode. So the way to do that is you're gonna name the feeling, you're gonna calm your body, you're gonna limit checking whether that's your phone, your internet, whatever it is, and redirect your attention to something fully in your control.

So if uncertainty sends your mind into overdrive, which it does for most of us, therapy can help you build tolerance for the unknown and feel steadier during life's waiting periods.

Reach out to therapy now SF for more.