When the Ground is Shifting: Why Uncertainty is Your Invitation, NOT Your Enemy
What if the chaos around you is actually clearing space for something bigger?
If you've been watching the news lately—economic warnings, market volatility, job uncertainty, inflation anxiety—you've probably felt that knot in your stomach tighten a little more each day. It seems that no matter what direction you turn, uncertainty peeks its beady little eyes around the corner to force eye contact.
I get it. When the ground beneath your feet starts shifting, every instinct tells you to grab onto something stable and hold on for dear life. That's what most people do. They hunker down, play it safe, and wait for things to "get back to normal."
But here's what I learned after decades of dancing with uncertainty, from flying solo at 17 to getting kicked off the corporate train at 47:
Those who wait for stability before making a move are still waiting when the next wave of uncertainty hits.
Meanwhile, the people who learned to dance while the ground was shaking? They're already three steps ahead.
The Two Types of Uncertainty (And Why Most People Focus on the Wrong One)
Right now, there are two types of uncertainty swirling around you:
Type 1: The Uncertainty You Can't Control
Economic conditions
Market fluctuations
Industry disruptions
Organizational changes
Global events
This is the stuff that keeps you up at 3 AM scrolling through social media feeds, trying to predict what's coming next. You can't control it. And obsessing over it is like trying to steer a ship by telling the ocean you’re using your hand as the rudder.
Type 2: The Uncertainty You CAN Control
How you respond to challenges
The skills you choose to develop
The conversations you finally have
The risks you decide to take
The life you choose to build
This is where your power lives. This is where the shift happens.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: Most of us spend 90% of our energy worrying about Type 1 uncertainty while ignoring the Type 2 uncertainty that could actually spark the change you desire.
The "Might As Well" Moment
A few years ago, I was coaching a woman—let's call her Sarah—who'd been stuck in a soul-crushing corporate job for eight years. She stayed because it was "stable." Safe. The benefits were good. The paycheck was reliable.
Then her company announced massive restructuring. Her department might be eliminated. Suddenly, the stability she'd sacrificed everything for was evaporating anyway.
"I've wasted eight years staying for security that didn't even exist," she told me, tears streaming down her face.
But then something shifted. She looked at me and said: "You know what? If everything's uncertain anyway, I might as well go after what I actually want."
Six months later, she'd started her own consulting practice. Last I heard, she's making more money than she ever did in corporate, working half the hours, and actually excited about Monday mornings.
That's the "Might As Well" moment.
When the ground is already shaking, the bold move doesn't feel riskier than the safe one. Because you realize the "safe" option was always an illusion.
What Happens When You Lead the Dance
Let me tell you what I've observed over the years watching people navigate uncertain times:
The ones who panic and freeze? They get dragged around by circumstances. Layoffs happen TO them. Market shifts happen TO them. Change happens TO them. They're constantly in reaction mode, always one step behind, always feeling like victims.
The ones who lean into uncertainty? They start making intentional moves. They use the disruption as cover to make changes they should have made years ago. They pivot. They adapt. They find opportunities in the chaos that stable times would have hidden.
It's not that they're smarter or luckier. They've just learned something crucial:
Uncertainty is the best time to reinvent yourself because everyone else is too scared to try.
The Forced Comfort Zone Exit (And Why We Keep Waiting for a Break That Never Comes)
Remember that feeling in school when finals week was finally over? Or that last day before Christmas break when you'd cleaned out your locker and knew you had two weeks of pure freedom ahead?
There was this exhale moment. This sense of "okay, NOW I can relax. NOW things can reset."
Here's the gut-punch truth about adulthood: that break never comes.
There's no summer vacation where you get to completely disconnect and come back refreshed. There's no semester ending where you close one chapter and start fresh in the fall. There's no built-in reset button.
We keep waiting for things to "settle down" so we can make our big moves. We tell ourselves we'll make that career change after this busy season. We'll start that business when things calm down. We'll have that difficult conversation when the timing is better.
But the busy season never ends. Things never calm down. The timing is never better.
And here's something nobody tells you about economic uncertainty and market volatility: it's actually doing you a favor.
Stay with me now...
When everything feels somewhat stable (even though it's not), we can keep telling ourselves that story about waiting for the right time. We can keep delaying the uncomfortable decisions because "things might settle down next quarter." (As I write this, I can’t tell you how many times this has happened in my own past!)
But uncertainty? Uncertainty rips away that comfortable lie. It forces you to your comfort zone edge, whether you want to go there or not. And once you're already there, you have a choice:
Panic and try to claw your way back to a "safety" layer that’s all too easily peeled away with little outside effort.
Accept that the break you're waiting for isn't coming, and start making moves anyway.
The people who choose option 2? They're the ones who look back years later and say, "That uncertain period was the best thing that ever happened to me."
Because they stopped waiting for permission from external circumstances and started giving themselves permission to lead their own dance.
Three Ways to Dance When You Can't Stand Still
If you're feeling the ground shift beneath your feet right now, here's how to start leading instead of following:
1. Acknowledge the Fear, Then Ask Better Questions
Don't pretend you're not scared. Fear in uncertain times is completely rational. But don't let fear ask all the questions.
Fear asks: "What if I lose everything?"
Better question: "What if this uncertainty is clearing space for something I couldn't have built in stable times?"
Fear asks: "What if I make the wrong choice?"
Better question: "What's the cost of making no choice at all?"
Fear asks: "What if it doesn't work out?"
Better question: "What if it does?"
2. Focus on What You CAN Control
Make a list right now. Two columns:
Can't Control:
The economy
Market conditions
Your company's decisions
Industry disruptions
CAN Control:
Your skills and knowledge
Your network and relationships
Your attitude and energy
Your next small step
Your response to challenges
Spend your energy on the second column. That's where your power lives.
3. Use Uncertainty as Permission
What would you do if you weren't afraid? What career change, business idea, or life shift have you been putting off "until things stabilize"?
Here's your permission slip: Things are never going to stabilize. Not really. There will always be some reason to wait, some uncertainty on the horizon, some risk to avoid.
Use this moment of external uncertainty to make the internal changes you've been avoiding. When everything's already in a whirlpool, your bold move won't even raise eyebrows.
The Shift You're Actually Looking For
I've been thinking a lot lately about the difference between those who thrive in uncertainty and those who are crushed by it.
It's not intelligence. It's not luck. It's not even courage, really.
It's the willingness to lead your own dance, rather than waiting for someone else to tell you the steps.
The economy's going to do what it's going to do. Markets will continue their jarring, trampoline up-and-down routine. Industries will disrupt. Change will continue to come, whether you're ready or not.
But you? You get to decide how you show up in the chaos.
You can hunker down, grip tighter to what's "safe," and hope to ride it out. (Spoiler: that strategy rarely works, and it definitely doesn't feel good.)
Or you can take a deep breath, step into the uncertainty, and start building something that actually excites you.
Because here's what I've learned after all these years: The best shifts happen when the ground is already shaking.
Your Turn to Lead
So here's my question for you: What's one move you've been afraid to make because you were waiting for "stability"?
What would you do if you accepted that uncertainty isn't going away—it's just the new normal?
What if this uncomfortable, unpredictable, slightly terrifying moment is actually your invitation to stop waiting and start living?
The ground is shifting. You can't stop it. But you can learn to dance while it moves.
And sometimes, that's where the best moves happen.
For more insights on mastering the edge of your comfort zone and turning worry into winning, visit www.tylerjwirth.com. And if you're ready to dive deeper into your own transformation, get in line for "You're the Shift" – my personal success book that shows you how to finally answer your buzz and start living again (launching in January, 2026)
