Hello friends,

I am now fully back to work after my annual vacation visiting family in Chennai, celebrating the harvest festival, Pongal, and spending the week in ‘pause mode’.

During the break, most of my routines went for a toss. Regular habits could not withstand the unstructured environment, so I went into maintenance mode.

I had only one habit that I ticked off daily. I suspended everything else.

They could all wait until I was back home, in my own environment where I could control my routine and regain a measure of certainty.

I returned late Friday night, and on Saturday, as I write this edition, I can feel the resistance to getting back into a routine.This made me think about what happens to our habits, intentions and goals during a period of uncertainty.

Today, I want to explore what happens when one area of our life becomes unstable or uncertain, and how it affects other areas of our lives.

Enjoy the read!​
​Siri🌱🌀

The Brain on Survival Mode

When one area of life becomes uncertain or unstable, the brain often suppresses progress in other areas to conserve cognitive, emotional and identity resources.

When a major life area becomes unstable (career, health, relationship or finances), our cognitive bandwidth gets reallocated to deal with the uncertainty. Uncertainty activates the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and amygdala, regions of the brain involved in:

• threat detection
• error monitoring
• risk assessment

Once activated, the brain shifts from growth to survival mode. Exploration and long-term planning are deprioritised. Survival is of the utmost concern. Whether the threat is real or imagined, the brain treats heightened uncertainty as a danger.

This is why people say:

“Once this situation resolves, I will be able to get back to my life.”

“Once I get a job, I will focus on my health and get it back on track.”

“Once I pay off my debt, I will manage my finances better.”

“Once this boss leaves the team, I will be able to implement better work-life boundaries.”

“Once my income stabilises, I will be able to stop worrying and be peaceful.”

“Once this project is delivered, I can take care of my health.”

The Search for Relief

When the brain is in survival mode, we can sometimes sabotage our long-term well-being by giving in to short-term desires. When stress hits, we eat ice cream or snack for temporary relief, even if we know this won’t help our weight loss goals.

When financial concerns rise, we turn to retail therapy for momentary relief, hoarding stuff instead of being sensible with our spending.

This is a well-designed function of the brain that lets us adapt to our current situation. If there is a medical crisis, worrying about how my stock market portfolio is performing is unnecessary.

Turning Goals into Anchors

Pausing is wise and adaptive during acute life or career transitions, health recovery, or when major decisions are pending.

This pausing becomes a state of limbo when there is chronic uncertainty, open-ended waiting, and reliance on situations out of our control.
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This signals to the brain that these habits are not optional ‘growth’ tasks, but essential tools for safety. When you reframe long-term goals as priorities that support you in this period of uncertainty, you will have better success bringing them back into focus.

To Reflect

So, if you find yourself in a state of limbo dealing with real or perceived uncertainty, here’s a question to reflect upon:

If you would like to explore this further in a focused coaching session on dealing with uncertainty and bringing your long-term goals back into focus, you can book a conversation with me.

Siri’s Pick

Uncertainty is a core Buddhist teaching, and my favourite teacher, Pema Chödrön, has a short, accessible book on dealing with it. Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion is a good read for reflecting on our attitudes and finding ways to embrace and lean towards uncertainty, instead of pulling away.

Bye for now.

Siri 🌱🌀