Simone Stolzoff

came to visit her.

And Bill said, Emily, how are you doing?

And she says, honestly, not very well.

I don't know what I'll do if my mom dies.

And Bill said, Emily, the version of yourself that will handle that tragic situation, if or when it occurs, will be born into existence in that moment.

And that version of you will have more context, more information, and be better equipped to handle that tragic event than the version of you today.

You have to trust in your future self to be able to solve your future problems.

And love that idea, because so often when we are faced with uncertainty, we think about the worst case scenario.

We think about all the things that could go wrong.

We catastrophize.

We go in these sort of mental loops.

But not being able to control the future allows you to not rush out to meet your suffering.

If you're able to trust in your future self, you can be able to handle that moment if or when it occurs.

And for Emily, for example, she's so glad that Bill gave her that pep talk because her mom ended up recovering.

She didn't waste all of this energy suffering about something that didn't actually come to pass.

And so when we are faced with that career crossroads or that relationship uncertainty, step one, separate what you can and can't control.

Step two, focus on one right action at a time.

And step three, choose curiosity over fear.

And if you just take away one thing from this conversation or the book, uncertainty, yes, can be threatening and uncomfortable and the source of a lot of fear, but it can also be the birthplace of possibility.

If you're allowing yourself to approach uncertainty with that sense of curiosity, you might discover things that you might not have otherwise been aware of.