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Key points
- Uncertainty in the world like war, loss of freedom, food shortages, and the pandemic can create anxiety.
- People often respond to uncertainty dramatically, like moving to a new state, finding a new job, or even becoming survivalists.
In my last post, I wrote about how inflation, a falling stock market, recession, unemployment, rising gasoline prices, and war in the 1970s triggered a collective sense of nostalgia that permeated the United States and much of the world for the tranquility of 1950s.
This post addresses the collective sense of uncertainty caused by stressful times.
I’d been insulated from reality.
I’m not old enough to properly remember the 1950s, and I was mostly insulated from the problems of the 1970s by my family. But, it all hit home when the recession caused my father’s construction business to fail. And it affected me personally as I prepared to attend college.
I’ll never forget the conversation I had with my dad. It began when he asked me how I did on the SAT college entrance exam. I was prone to test anxiety, and the high stakes of getting into any particular college—as a member of the biggest Baby Boom year—made scoring well on the SAT paramount. Unfortunately, I became so nervous that I suffered from a severe case of indigestion that distracted me from doing my best.
I replied, “I did poorly, so much so that I will have to retake it in order to get into Emory (the college my father attended and where I had set my sights on going).”
My dad then said, “Son, about that... I’m afraid I can longer afford to send you to Emory.”
I was stunned—that had been my plan for years—I looked at my dad and asked, “But what about the college fund?” My dad had bragged to my sister and me for years about how he had set up a college fund for us that would pay for all of our college costs wherever we wanted to go.
He soberly replied, “Son, what do you think we’ve been living on for the past year?”
The uncertainty of the 70s suddenly became real for me, and I was flummoxed.
Uncertainty Comes With Its Problems
In another previous post, "What Were You Certain About?" I wrote about the problems of certainty. Certainty gives us a sense of comfort and security, but it’s a false sense because nothing is certain. It causes people to arrogantly cling to outmoded thinking, which stifles freedom and creativity. Uncertainty, on the other hand, has its own share of problems.
Once again, the news is full of fear factors. Inflation, poverty, crime and violence, unemployment, and government corruption round out the top five worries of the world, according to French market research firm Ipsos. War, loss of freedom, food shortages, the pandemic, and frustration with public schools are also top concerns.
These issues create anxiety. They make planning difficult. Businesses find it difficult to execute plans when adverse economic conditions (supply chain congestion, labor shortages, cybercrime, etc.) make doing business unpredictable. People find it difficult to strategize for the future as well (family planning, home purchasing, career path, etc.) when they don’t know what to expect. Uncertainty makes you feel stuck, that you can’t move forward, and that all you can do is wait it out and hope for better times.
Lately, people have responded to uncertainty in dramatic ways. Many have voted with their feet and moved to other states. Between July 2020 and June 2021, there was an enormous exodus out of New York and California, with the two states losing 319,000 and 260,000 residents, respectively. According to the Associated Press, in 2020, California's population declined for the first time since state officials started measuring it in 1850.
Others have quit their jobs causing worker shortages everywhere. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that over 47 million Americans voluntarily quit their jobs in 2021. This unprecedented mass exit from the workforce is called the Great Resignation.
Still, others have become survivalists and preppers anticipating some kind of Armageddon.
How I Dealt With Reality
Once it sank in that my family was broke, that the once vaunted college fund was gone, and that the burden of paying for college had fallen to me, I pivoted. I went to my dad and said,
Don’t worry about my going to college, Dad; I’ll go to Georgia State University instead of Emory. I can afford to pay for that myself with what I’m earning at my part time job. Even better, I won’t even have to retake the SAT to get in!
