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March 24, 2025 19 mins

Uncertainty arrives uninvited in all our lives. Whether it's job loss, financial strain, relationship challenges or global crises, these moments test our resilience and reveal our true capacity for growth. In this deeply practical and compelling episode, join me, Linton Bergsen, on the Self Realized, Shatter Your Limits Podcast as I unpack five powerful tools that transform how you navigate life's inevitable storms.

The journey begins with mastering your focus. When setbacks occur, your mind naturally drift toward fear and anxiety—creating a downward spiral that keeps solutions out of reach. I share specific techniques to redirect your mental energy away from worry and toward possibility, helping you regain control when circumstances feel overwhelming. This fundamental shift in perspective doesn't just feel better—it also creates the mental conditions necessary for finding your way forward.

Physical well-being emerges as a cornerstone of resilience.  Explore how exercise and nutrition directly impact your brain chemistry, creating a physiological foundation that makes emotional regulation possible during stressful periods. This connects seamlessly with mindful time management strategies that prevent the paralysis that often accompanies uncertainty. When combined with careful creation of your social environment—surrounding yourself with those who elevate rather than deplete you—these practices create a powerful framework for stability amidst chaos.

Perhaps most significantly, you’ll delve into the spiritual dimension of navigating uncertainty through meditation, prayer, and faith. By developing these internal resources during calm periods, you build a reservoir of strength to draw upon when challenges arise. This isn't about blind optimism, but rather about cultivating a grounded trust in your ability to meet challenges with grace and wisdom.

Ready to transform how you respond to life's unpredictable moments? Subscribe now, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and visit selfrealized.com to continue the conversation on resilience, personal growth, and spiritual development to become your own greatest resource in times of uncertainty.




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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Linton Bergsen (00:01):
Welcome to the Self-Realized Podcast with
Linton Bergsen, where you willshatter your limits.
I am not much into theself-help industry as much as
I'm into the self-realizedindividual, which is you, what
matters most to you, how you getthere and the obstacles that
may be in your way.
If you would like to be part ofthis podcast and part of that

(00:22):
discussion, I welcome you herewith an open heart, open mind
and open arms.
So, without further ado, let'sget on with the podcast.
I appreciate you taking yourvery valuable time and energy to

(00:48):
join me on episode number 97,Navigating Uncertainty: 5 Tools
for Managing Stress and Setbacks.
We certainly know, without anyuncertainty whatsoever, that
there will be setbacks andstresses in our lives.
The question becomes how do younavigate?

(01:09):
What is the GPS required forthe road of uncertainty?
In this episode, I'm going togive you five tools that will
help you navigate the road ofuncertainty and manage your
stress levels and help you getthrough any setbacks that you

(01:29):
will experience in life.
The first tool that I'm goingto give you is focus.
When you contemplate on whenyou have a setback, when you
have stress in your life a lotof times when it occurs, where
does your focus go?
Ask yourself that question Doesit go to fear?

(01:53):
Does it go to anxiety?
Does it go to worry?
If it does, that's normal andacknowledging that now is
perfectly normal.
But in acknowledging that, yourealize, of course, that
focusing on those three is notgoing to help you.

(02:16):
And because it's normal doesn'tmake it all right, because it's
not going to help you solveanything.
It's going to create a downwardspiral in your mental state if
you continuously focus on fear,anxiety and worry.

(02:36):
Those are not solution-drivenfocal points.
They're going to create in youa situation that you will feel
desperate and be stuck in themindset of what if this was to
happen?
What if that was to happen?
How am I going to pay this bill?

(02:57):
How am I going to pay that bill?
All of which are real lifeconcerns, all of which we all go
through if we lose a job, if wefind out that what we have
perhaps invested our time,effort or money in is not
panning out.
Now as we thought.
Once we accept that our focushas to change from fear, anxiety

(03:26):
and worry to solutions of howyou are going to deal with the
ongoing situation you've nowfound yourself in and when you
begin to really own that as anew focal point within yourself

(03:46):
and you begin to target yourmind and your self-talk in such
a way that you refuse to allowthe fear and the anxiety to take
a hold of your mind and yourefuse to allow yourself to go
on that downward spiral and youtell yourself literally okay,
this has occurred.

(04:06):
It is not permanent, it istemporary.
Things always change.
They are fluid.
Tell yourself this I am incontrol of whether I make things
change for the better or forthe worse.

(04:27):
That is your focus.
Managing stress and setbacks andnavigating uncertainty depends
on you, and where you put yourfocus will be the result of the
outcome of what you're goingthrough.

(04:48):
Contemplate on this for amoment.
If you consistently andconstantly focus, for example,
on the career situation that haschanged or the financial
situation that has changed, notonly because of the career
situation but maybe because ofglobal situations, you're only

(05:12):
focusing on the doom and thegloom.
You cannot control what hashappened.
You can only control what willhappen, and the beauty of your
life is that you can controloutcomes and decisions you make
and learn from past decisionsand outcomes to have a better

(05:36):
life.
Essentially, if you look atsetbacks and uncertainty which,
as I've mentioned earlier in theepisode, are going to happen as
opportunities, you begin toshift your psychological and
physiological well-being.
It's mindfulness, it isconstant mindfulness of where

(06:00):
you are putting your focus, yourself-talk, your thoughts and
your actions.

(06:21):
Which leads me into the secondtool for managing stress and
setbacks and navigatinguncertainty, which is managing
your time.
If you're going to change yourfocus from working on looking at
outcomes and how you're goingto have a better outcome and
make the changes in your lifethat you need to, given the
setbacks that you are nowexperiencing, you're going to

(06:42):
have to manage your timedifferently than obviously you
did before, because you may havehad a job, you may have had
certain things that were goingon, a relationship or whatever.
Now you have that time to dosomething positive with.
If you manage that time forexample, looking for a new job,

(07:03):
putting your mindset in lookingfor opportunities, using social
media and whatever avenues youhave to try to find new
opportunities you are nowfocusing and managing your time
in a productive way to manageyour stress and setbacks,
because you will find that, ifyou are seeking out

(07:23):
opportunities and you are tryingto find solutions, that you
don't feel as stressed as if youwere doing nothing and just
letting the current situationwear you down.
When you're looking forsolutions, you're trying to
become successful.
When you're trying to dosomething that is moving you

(07:44):
forward, towards new paradigms,new success, your self-talk,
your mental attitude changes,because you should have a
greater degree of positiveexpectancy for the efforts that
you're putting out, becauseyou're managing your time
correctly to create newopportunities for yourself.

(08:07):
When you're trying to createnew opportunities for yourself.
It leads me into the third toolfor managing stress and setbacks
navigating uncertainty which isavoid people and circumstances

(08:27):
that won't help you.
If you're trying to moveforward from a situation and
you're trying to get yourselfinto the right mindset and the
right frame of mind, you don'twant to surround yourself with
people who may be negative andmay have gone through similar
things that you're going through, and all they can talk about is

(08:51):
how difficult it is, howterrible it is, what's going on
is awful and that there is noway out, and it's gloom and doom
.
Your focus and managing yourtime the first two tools is now
greatly affected by the peopleand circumstances that you

(09:12):
surround yourself with.
It's called environment so yourenvironment has to match your
new focus, how you are managingyour time and the people, events
and environments that you aresurrounding yourself with to
manage your stress and setbacks.
To pick you up, because if youare not surrounding yourself

(09:37):
with people that are positiveand you are trying to navigate
uncertainty with people who liketo be in that negative mindset
and have nothing but uncertaintyand unhappiness in their lives
and they thrive on it becausesome people do then you are
going to drag yourself down thatvery road with them and all

(09:58):
your focus and your time isgoing to be spent with the wrong
people contributing to yougetting the wrong outcomes.
When you look at moving forwardand getting your focus right,
managing your time right andavoiding people that aren't
helping you.
You need to get into the fourthtool for managing stress and

(10:23):
setbacks and navigatinguncertainty, which is don't make
assumptions about the outcomesthat you're trying to accomplish
.
Don't make assumptions basedupon past experiences.
Don't make assumptions aboutwhat people are saying could

(10:45):
happen, whether it is in the jobmarket, whether it is in the
economy, whether it is in lifein general.
You are not going to makeassumptions about anything.
Why?
Because this gets into a verydeep spiritual component of your
life, which gets into themeditation part of managing

(11:06):
stress and setbacks andnavigating uncertainty.
Once you begin to understandthat you live in your world of
peace, you live in your realityof meditation and prayer, that
when you are in that place ofmeditation and prayer and
working on your spiritual lifewhich is very important in

(11:28):
managing stress and setbacks andnavigating uncertainty you are
coming from a place of faith.
I talk about overcoming fear andusing faith in episode 12 as
part of your life, because ifyou do not have that as a solid
foundation in your life, it'svery difficult, in my opinion,

(11:51):
to be optimistic because bydefault, you really don't know
what's going to happen.
But if you're putting your bestfoot forward and you're trying
your utmost with your focus andmanaging your time and having
the right people around you,then you're not going to start

(12:11):
making negative assumptionsabout outcomes.
You're going to have faith andyou're going to allow the
outcomes to unfold and work withyou in a very positive,
beneficial, uplifting way,because faith gives you the
ability to do your best andleave the rest to something much

(12:35):
bigger than yourself call itGod, Cosmic Consciousness,
whatever spiritual or religiousbeliefs that you choose to have,
but leave it to that force,which is much bigger than
yourself, to help you along withyour own efforts in peace.

(12:58):
And if you're developing thaton an ongoing basis in everyday
life, before uncertainty andsetbacks and stress occur, it
will be a foundational part ofyour life, ongoing, so when you
need it, it'll be there.

(13:19):
That is why I always encourage,in all of the episodes I do
work on your faith and not fear,and work on your intuition and
be guided by that inner voice,because uncertainty and handling
stress and setbacks depends alot upon how much work and

(13:45):
effort you've put into buildingyour faith, getting your quiet
time and already having theresources built in you
internally to help you navigateuncertainty, stress and setbacks
when they occur.
It's an ongoing everydaydevelopment into your spiritual

(14:11):
bank account, so when you needto draw upon it, it is already
there.
It is simply one of the mostimportant aspects of your life
and will yield some of the bestresults of any investment that

(14:33):
you can make in yourself.
If you would like to know moreabout how assumptions are
ruining your life, you canlisten to episode 20.
And the final tool that Isuggest that you really work on

(14:53):
in order to navigate uncertaintyand manage your stress and
setbacks is always be working onyour physical well-being,
exercise, eating the right foods, because, it's been proven,
exercise reduces stress.

(15:14):
It releases endorphins andpositive chemical reactions
within the brain.
The foods you eat they are veryimportant in how you feel about
yourself and how the foods youeat contribute to your
well-being.
If you are focusing again thenumber one tool I gave you on

(15:39):
eating right and managing yourtime, tool number two, so you
can exercise, and maybe thenumber three tool, surrounding
yourself with the right peoplewho like to be involved in
exercise, hiking, biking,whatever you're involved in and
enjoy eating well, then you willbe able to have this as a

(16:03):
natural part of your life,because it is a lifestyle, it's
an environment that you haveallowed yourself to cultivate.
And when you get involved withpeople who are usually involved
in these more positivelifestyles, they tend not to
have negative expectations.
Because just by wanting toexercise, wanting to eat right,

(16:28):
wanting to make the time to dothat, it's usually something
that people have inside ofthemselves because they're
trying to better themselves.
They're in that mindset.
It is a more mindful, positivespace to live and be in.
Now, obviously, there's alwaysexceptions to the rule, but you

(16:53):
are going to be very focused andmindful about who you spend
your time with.
In today's episode, I've givenyou five different tools that
you can use to help you navigateuncertainty, manage stress and
setbacks.
Focus, managing your time,making sure you have surrounded

(17:15):
yourself with the right people,don't make any assumptions about
what could happen, and exerciseregularly.
I haven't put these in anyparticular order.
You may already have some ofthese in place and others you
may not.
So you decide which ones workfor you and which ones you may
feel don't, and apply themthroughout your life, in every

(17:39):
area, as things unfold, ongoingevery day, and you will find
that even if you apply one ortwo and you begin to expand out
the one or two, it's a dominoeffect.
You'll find that the otherthree will be affected
automatically.

(18:01):
So start small, but think big.
Everything great was started ina small way and no matter what
is going on in your life rightnow, you are no small thing.
You are great and you haveeverything within you to
overcome anything that isoutside of you by simple

(18:22):
application of any of thesetools, or all of them if you
would like, you will find thatlife improves and your
well-being improves.
And after all, isn't that allthat any of us want is to have a
better life, no matter whatoccurs.

(18:43):
It's not impossible, because aself-realized individual, which
you are, always knows this.
They are their own greatestresource and they've spent their
time discovering that,developing that and owning it.
So when times of uncertainty,stress and setbacks occur, they

(19:06):
know how to navigate thembecause they already have
developed or are developing theongoing tools and resources

(19:26):
notus j o hrive t survivebut.
ylistening appreciate oulistening to the podcast please
subscribe so do not miss anyupcoming episodes.
Whatever platform you're on,please leave a rating and review
.
I would greatly appreciate it.
Any additional information onme, Linton Bergsen and my
five-star reviewed book,Purposeful Vision, is available
at selfrealized.
com which is all one word.
You can also leave any commentsor suggestions on the website.

(19:46):
I look forward to connectingwith you very soon and take good
care of yourself.
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