Season 3, Episode 8: Coping With Change and Uncertainty
Change is part of life—but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Whether it’s something positive like starting a new job, or something more difficult like financial instability or big world events, uncertainty can be hard to sit with. So how do we know when normal stress tips into anxiety? And what can we do to feel more steady during unpredictable times?
In this episode, social worker Rasha Taha joins host Katherine Hurtig to explore how change affects our mental health and what we can do about it. They talk about the pull of worst-case-scenario thinking, the importance of self-awareness, and how small grounding strategies—like checking in with your breath—can make a difference. You’ll also hear about ways to stay flexible, build confidence in your ability to cope, and move through change with more self-compassion and clarity.
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Katherine Hurtig
Welcome to Living Fully. Each episode is a chance to talk about mental health in a way that's simple, honest, and helpful. We'll share stories, tips, and tools to help you feel supported and feel your best. I'm your host, Katherine Hurtig.
Today, we're exploring a topic that affects all of us, change. Whether it's the stress of a new job, moving to a new place, or dealing with unexpected life shifts, change can bring a lot of uncertainty. But how do we know if it's just everyday stress or something more, like anxiety? I talked to social worker Rasha Taha about ways to manage that stress, building comfort with uncertainty, and practical steps to stay grounded in unpredictable times.
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All right, I'm here with social worker Rasha Taha today. Thank you for being here.
Rasha Taha
For sure.
Katherine Hurtig
Now you haven't been on the podcast yet.
Rasha Taha
Nope. First time.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. So excited to have you. Tell our listeners a little bit about yourself.
Rasha Taha
I have been a counsellor at CCC for a year, a little under a year and a half.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah?
Rasha Taha
Yeah.
Katherine Hurtig
So Rasha, I mean, change can, it can bring up a lot of worry, you know, not, like the unknown. It can be scary. So how can someone kind of tell if what, you know, if the unease that they're feeling around change is just normal everyday stress or maybe something more like anxiety?
Rasha Taha
I think that's a really good question, mainly because I think we all experience, obviously we all experience stress on a day to day basis. and sometimes that can look like anxiety. So it's not necessarily a strict line that's in between both. They can kind of sometimes look the same and that's okay. I think when folks have an increased sense of self-awareness, they can kind of distinguish worry, like everyday stress and worry from anxiety and anxiety more will look like worry that won't go away. So it's a good way of looking at it in terms of it's persistent, it's day to day, and it's prolonged. So it's months, weeks and months at a time when this worry isn't necessarily subsiding and it's interfering with your quality of life. It's interfering with your work, with your social life, with the things that you're doing. That's when it's starting to kind of creep a little bit more into anxiety rather than everyday worry.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, that's what I've found in my conversations with counsellors is, you know, we want to normalize all emotions, right? It's if those emotions are, like you said, kind of longer lasting and if they're impacting your daily life, impacting, you know, your ability to work, to do the things you love to do, those relationships, like you said. Yeah. So what are some maybe physical, emotional signs that that worry might be tipping into anxiety?
Rasha Taha
Mm hmm.
Some characteristics of some physical symptoms of anxiety will look like your typical sweaty palms, increased heart rate, racing thoughts. And again, those would be persistent. So they wouldn't just kind of pop up and go away when the task is done. They can kind of continue on, especially the heart rate piece and increased breathing. you'll kind of notice that your body is reacting and responding to the anxiety. And usually it starts with the thoughts that start racing, and then your body will respond and go, oh, what's going on? Something's off. And then we'll have those physical symptoms. And so it'll look very much so like it'll follow, the body will follow thoughts. And then in terms of the emotions, it's that, again, that persistent worry, that unease, that maybe challenge in regulating your emotions, not being able to decrease the stress that you're experiencing.
Katherine Hurtig
Right, right. Now, I know definitely with myself, I'm sure I'm not alone. We want, we like certainty. It's comfortable.
Rasha Taha
We sure do.
Katherine Hurtig
We want to know what's going to happen. And so, I mean, I speak from experience. I try to plan for the worst, right? I'm always thinking, worst case scenario, what's going to happen if this happens? What am I going to do? So how do you suggest we kind of check in with ourselves when we're caught in that kind of spiral of what ifs?
Rasha Taha
And I think everyone, to a certain extent, experiences that.
Katherine Hurtig
Again, pretty normal.
Rasha Taha
Exactly, exactly. I think the what-ifs are very, very common, and they're a bit of a trap that everyone can spiral into.
Katherine Hurtig
And it's probably a fine line, too, right? Because it's, you know, like we said, it's normal, but it can be, like, too much.
Rasha Taha
Oh, for sure. And uncertainty, and I'm sure we're going to talk about this more, but we all experience uncertainty. None of us have a crystal ball that can tell us what's going to happen. And a lot of us will tend to, like you're saying, go towards worst case scenario because people will want to plan. Well, if I can tackle worst case scenario and everything else should be fine. And so we kind of try to give ourselves certainty by planning for the worst.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
But that's a slippery slope because we actually don't have access to what's going to happen.
Katherine Hurtig
Right.
Rasha Taha
Worst case scenario is actually going to happen. What ends up usually happening with folks is through planning for a worst case scenario, they end up affecting their right now.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
And that will potentially negatively impact what will happen after because they're worried now about something that's not, that hasn't been materialized and might never materialize.
Katherine Hurtig
And why is that our go-to? Like, why don't we more often think what's the best that could happen, you know?
Rasha Taha
I, that's a great question. I don't know if the world is necessarily built for optimism.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, especially now.
Rasha Taha
Exactly. I think we want to be prepared. A lot of people want to be prepared and a lot of things feel so out of control that if we can prepare, even if there's a guise of preparation that we can kind of convince ourselves of, then we'll try to feel better. Or at least it'll, that'll be the train of thought is if I can prepare for this, if I can plan for this, then I'll feel better. But we don't often feel better when we plan ahead for things that we don't know are going to happen or not.
Katherine Hurtig
Totally.
Rasha Taha
And we love predictability as just as humans, we want to know what's happening because there's safety and predictability. And so the equivalent of that with uncertainty is danger. There can be danger in uncertainty. So when we try to plan for the uncertain, we're trying to be safe ultimately.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, that makes sense.
Rasha Taha
When we talk about it logically, it's great. But when we're actually going through the motions, it's a whole lot harder to regulate and remember that.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, I mean, you hear the example of like anxiety being about, you know, like you think you're being chased by a bear, but that bear is just like an uncomfortable email or, you know? Yeah. So kind of going back to that, that question, like in your work with clients or whatever, what can we do to, to kind of check in with ourselves if we find ourselves in that spiral of like, what if, what if, what if?
Rasha Taha
The biggest thing that I try to get clients to work on is increased level of self-awareness. Because if we're not aware of what we're doing, we can't stop it. Any client of mine will tell you that's one of my favorite things to say in session. If we don't know what's happening, we can't stop it. We can't change it. And so if we can pay attention to when these what-ifs are coming up, then we can try to prevent that snowball from rolling down the hill. Because oftentimes folks will start worrying and will start responding to an increase in the what ifs when they can't stop them and then they're spiraling. And then one what if goes into another, goes into another, and there's a limitless supply of what ifs. We can always find a what if to the what if. And so I try to encourage clients to try to catch themselves early because it's a little bit easier to manage it when they catch it early. And it's a matter of trying to pay attention to what your thoughts are, what thoughts you're having. Sometimes I like to encourage folks to vocalize their thoughts, even if they're alone, to say the thoughts out loud, because there's a difference from when your thoughts are entirely in your head and you're kind of, they're swirling around, not really having a direction versus you actually putting them out into the open and you vocalize them, you can hear yourself. Yeah. And you can only say so many words at a time, but you can think a lot of thoughts at the same time and kind of ping pong back and forth. Yeah. And so it's a it's a quirky little strategy that I like to get folks to practice. And it can help. It can help quite a bit. And if people have pets, you can talk to your pets and you can hear the what if. Oh, OK, what if this happens? Oh, that's a what if. So if you can catch it one, two, three times, you'll be more cognizant of it coming up the next time. And so it's a matter of practice. The first time you're just probably going to slip. The second time, maybe you'll pay a bit more attention to it, but it's a matter of practicing catching it so that you can prevent it from turning into that spiral.
Katherine Hurtig
That's a really great thing that I've learned in my own counselling is just that idea that any kind of change that we want to make around our thoughts, on our feelings, behaviors, whatever. It is a practice. It's not going to happen overnight. You're not going to, you know, unfortunately, you're not going to feel better immediately, but it's possible. And yeah, just you keep at it every day.
Rasha Taha
And I think we do a really fantastic job here at CCC at explaining to folks who maybe haven't done counselling before what the process is going to look like. And that change doesn't happen immediately. Because I think a lot of folks might come in with a perception of counselling that may be closer to what they see on social media or what they see on TV. And they almost expect instant results. And so I think we do a really good job of explaining to folks it's a process. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes your buy-in. I'm not going to tell you what to do, essentially. That's not my role. And so let's work together to figure out how to help you.
Katherine Hurtig
And we've talked about kind of like the negative what ifs, but is it can it can it be normal to feel anxious about positive changes like maybe, you know, a new job or moving to a new place?
Rasha Taha
Absolutely. I can assure you when I moved here a couple of years ago, was very excited, but also terrified.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, I guess. I mean, it's the same. Yeah, the same as the bad, right? You don't know what's going to happen.
Rasha Taha
We're back at that uncertainty. We're back at that unpredictability. And our body is responding in the same way. Our body can't necessarily distinguish the good anxiety from the bad anxiety. It's just looking at anxiety going, something feels off. And I don't know what that is, but I guess I should prepare for it.
Katherine Hurtig
So what was your experience like when you moved here?
Rasha Taha
Very, very, very chaotic because I was moving from Ontario to here and I ended up driving. So I shipped all of my stuff and I drove with my three cats. So it was quite the adventure. And there was a lot of uncertainty in terms of the weather, in terms of the routes that we were taking. There was a whole lot of unpredictability. And I really had to center myself on I did what I could. I am doing what I can. And I need to trust that I got me and that I'm going to figure it out as things come up. And that's exactly what we ended up doing. Things went OK. But I was definitely doing a whole lot of work a few weeks ahead of the move to remind myself.
Katherine Hurtig
Right.
Rasha Taha
You're OK. You've planned for this. Everything's going the way that it is supposed to. And if it doesn't, we'll figure it out.
Katherine Hurtig
That right there at that point, like that's where I struggled with so much. I mean, it's a work in progress for sure. A lot, a lot farther along now. It's it was the the planning and the what ifs. But it was it was this fear around the uncertain like, OK, this is going to come up and it's going to be hard and I won't be able to handle it.
Rasha Taha
Yeah, that's that's a really tough one. I think that's a tough one. And I think with a lot of clients who I work with, we are working on how do you trust yourself? So you heard me mention I got me.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
I really like that because it reminds me that I can deal with what's going to come up because historically.
Katherine Hurtig
Exactly. You look at the proof, right? Like look at all the other hard things that you've done.
Rasha Taha
Yeah. You have 100% survival rate so far.
Katherine Hurtig
Exactly.
Rasha Taha
We're still here. We're still chucking along and it can be difficult to remember that when things feel hard. And so I try to have these little mantras that I go back to around. I got me. I can figure it out. I have figured it out. And even if I can't figure it out, we'll manage. I'll make something of it. Something will come out of it. I can't predict what that's going to look like. I'm going to have to live it in the moment. Because I think a lot of folks kind of looping back to the anxiety piece, a lot of folks will try to look ahead and go, well, if this happens, then I'll respond this way. And then if that happens, then I'll respond that way. Well, what if this branches out into that? And then you have a complex tree of those branch offs into what ifs that you're trying to prepare for, but ultimately none of them might happen. And you just spent days, weeks, months, maybe trying to prepare for it and none of it happened. And so I definitely found myself doing that around the trip over where I was Like, well, what if it snows? Well, what if this? Well, what if that? It's like, hang on. I have no access to this. The weather forecast could say one thing one day and the other thing another day. I have to live it. I have to actually be present and move through it in order to then respond. Because I can't respond before there's an actual action.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. In my time here and talking to you counsellors about anxiety, this idea of focusing on what you can control comes up all the time. So, you know, if that's not natural for someone, if they're dealing with anxiety, how do you work with your clients? How do you kind of teach people to do more of that?
Rasha Taha
Focusing on what we can control. One of my favorite places to always start is bodily autonomy and agency. And remembering that the one thing we do have control over is our body. And for the most part, what it can do and what it can't do. And so if folks feel like that may be too much of a stretch, or if that doesn't apply to them because their body works differently, then we focus on our breath. That is one thing that we will always have access to. And there's a reason why folks like to focus on breathing and grounding. And it's in a lot of meditations and all that jazz because it's the one reliable thing. We have access to. We can control our heart rate easily at least, but we can hold our breath. We can increase our breathing. We can slow it down. So we always, always, always have control of that. So at the smallest piece is we start with our breath and we notice it. We focus on it. We pay attention to it. So if folks feel like they aren't necessarily too sure of how they can start their, how they can start kind of practicing self-awareness, focus on your breath. Notice what it does. Breathe fast. Breathe slow. How does that affect the rest of your body? So it incorporates some elements of mindfulness because we're trying to increase our sense of self-awareness and our breath is a part of that. So using the breath to access the rest of our body, how we're feeling, what we're thinking can be a really good gateway.
Katherine Hurtig
And you say like we have control over our body. Would that like, in terms of what we can control, would that be would that also include just kind of basic self-care?
Rasha Taha
Oh, for sure. Absolutely. Because how we feel is going to be impacted by what we're doing. Right. That's good old classic cognitive behavioral therapy. We look at our thoughts, we look at our behaviors, we look at our feelings and all of them are affecting one another back and forth. And so if we look at what our body is feeling, we also need to pay attention to what we're thinking. We also need to pay attention to what we're feeling. And so if our self-care in terms of taking care of our body, whether it looks like having a skincare routine or going to the dentist or making sure you have enough time for your friends and family, for leisure time, that's also included in self-care. That's action, right? That's action and behavior. And so that can impact how we ultimately feel.
Katherine Hurtig
So thinking about this idea of what's in our control, I mean, especially the last few years have talking about unprecedented events, you know, that comes up a lot now. We've witnessed a lot of changes, a lot of uncertainty. Yeah, there's a lot of economic uncertainty right now, right? I mean, a profession that comes to mind that I think deals with a lot of uncertainty are farmers. Like it's an example of a lifestyle filled with uncertainty. You know, they can't control the weather. You know, the markets are changing. What can we learn from, you know, this group of people that live with that kind of unpredictability all the time?
Rasha Taha
I think that's a really excellent question. And I think especially given that we are in Alberta, our ranches and our farmers are everywhere. And they're a huge, a massive, massive part of the province of our life. And oftentimes that work goes unnoticed. And so I'm glad we're able to give them a shout out and recognize that the labor that they put in and the life that they live is absolutely filled with uncertainty and unpredictability. And they still do it. They still work hard.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, they still show up.
Rasha Taha
Yeah, they still manage it. And their livelihood is attached to that. And so I think in terms of what can we learn from folks who work long hours, often have no time off or holidays off, right? Like cows don't care if it's Christmas. You still got to tend to them, right? Like you still have to make sure that you are putting effort in to make sure that you're getting gains back. And especially like what you said, like they don't control the weather. We don't control the weather. They have to roll with the punches. And so how do we incorporate some of their grit and some of their dedication to continuing to live that life into our lives is remembering that they work with what they have. Ultimately, right, they will work with what they have and they will pivot and they will be flexible and they will manage in whatever way that they possibly can. And that is why we need more resources going towards our farmers and our ranchers, because they can't do it alone. Ultimately, they have to rely on their neighbours, on their community, on the resources in their communities so that when things go south, they can adjust and they can get back up and they can continue supporting the rest of us.
Katherine Hurtig
And I love what you said there about flexibility, because I think that's probably a really important, important characteristic, important skill to build around uncertainty.
Rasha Taha
Yep. Flexibility, I would say, and I think a lot of my fellow co-workers would say is one of the skills that we all can benefit from practicing. And I think I want to underline the word practice because it's one of those things where you're not just going to learn how to be flexible. You're not just going to naturally be able to orient yourself towards it. It's something you're going to have to be mindful of. It's something you're going to have to practice. It's something you're going to have to be aware of. And so it's yet another one of those skills that folks can work on in counselling.
Katherine Hurtig
And like just for just as an example, work on in counselling, like what could that look like with a client?
Rasha Taha
So when it comes to practicing flexibility, oftentimes you'll hear me and other counsellors say we want to start small with any skill that we really want to build. We got to start small. We got to start with small, achievable, relatively measurable progress so that we can actually or work so that we can actually see progress. So one way of looking at how we can practice flexibility is let's say you have plans to go out with your friends and someone last minute changes where you're going. Can you orient yourself to that change and not throw a hissy fit about it or not get grumpy about it because you were super set on this one place that you were super excited to go to? can we take this relatively small inconsequential example and go okay what does it look like for me to be flexible and to roll with this change without being so heavily impacted by it that it ends up affecting the whole outing yeah all together yeah
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah and I think I mean that can apply to so many situations right? You do make a plan you know things change how are you going to deal with that and again kind of taking into account everything else we've said like not getting into the what if spiral, but yeah, just weaving in that flexibility.
Rasha Taha
And I think it's flexibility and adaptability. Those kind of go together, right? Because we need to adapt to whatever changes are coming up and how do we adapt without necessarily negatively impacting us or what it is that we're doing or the people that we're doing. We're allowed to have feelings about it. I will absolutely say that. You're allowed to go, ah, man, I was excited for this. And now I'm feeling disappointed. That's okay. We're not saying don't feel that way. We can't control our feelings.
Katherine Hurtig
That's a great point. Cause it's like, we can get better at handling uncertainty changes or whatever, but it doesn't mean that you're not gonna, you know, not be upset, frustrated. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah.
Rasha Taha
I think a really big misconception, and I've noticed this a little bit more recently with my clients where they'll want to work on emotional regulation. Very, very valid. How do we understand our feelings? And oftentimes what I have been hearing from clients is how do I control my feelings? And I think that's such a funny way of looking at, I think it's a funny word to use with feelings. Like how do I control what I'm feeling?
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
We can't. And I will try to very humorously add that into the session around we cannot necessarily dictate what it is that we feel. What we can do is notice what we're feeling and then process it and then allow ourselves to feel it and then have these strategies and tools and skills built up around how do we regulate so that we can continue doing what it is that we want to do. So I try to orient folks away from using control as a reference guide for feelings. And I do find that clients who maybe have a bit more anxiety in their, folks who have a bit more anxiety or who live with a bit more anxiety are the ones who are wanting to control their feelings. And it often comes with wanting to control the uncertainty. Again, so we're kind of looping back to things that are uncertain. Yeah, things that feel scary. How do I control it? And how do I control how I feel about it?
Katherine Hurtig
I've totally been there, you know, in my own work around anxiety, depression. It was, it was like, I felt like I was like failing the counselling process. If I was presented with a challenge, I reacted a certain way emotionally and like, well, I must not be making any progress because this situation is still making me feel this way. But that, yeah, I realize now that that wasn't what needed to change. Yeah.
Rasha Taha
And the alternative that I think of when you say that is, okay, you have this feeling. Okay, you notice this feeling. You go, oh, I don't want to feel this thing. I'm not, quote unquote, supposed to feel this way. So I'm just going to avoid it. Now we go into avoidance and avoiding our feelings. And that does not work.
Katherine Hurtig
No.
Rasha Taha
It'll often get pent up. And then we have a whole other series of things we need to deal with when folks start avoiding how they're feeling. So we either go into we avoid the feeling or we go into shaming ourselves for feeling the feeling that's coming up. And that will impact our self-esteem. That will impact our trust in ourselves. It'll impact our confidence and it'll impact how we present to other people, it'll come across in so many different ways. And so I think we need to be able to acknowledge the feeling that's coming up and then respond to it through the work that folks can do in counselling.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. You know, so we've talked about kind of the tumultuous nature of the world the last few years and, you know, how brought up the example of farmers and that kind of uncertain occupation. I mean, I think right now, a lot of people are worrying about their finances, like in with farming, you were saying that their livelihood is connected to that uncertainty. So financial anxiety, that's, that's a really tough one, because we need money to survive.
Rasha Taha
Unfortunately.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. So I mean, is the advice you give around, around that kind of uncertainty is it any different than any other kind of anxiety? Like what kind of advice do you have for people listening or your clients that are dealing with kind of financial anxiety?
Rasha Taha
I think financial anxiety, it has tendrils that connect to anxiety in general, but it also has its own unique struggles.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
Because I would be a terrible social worker if I didn't tie in capitalism to this. Because we do live in a capitalist world where we, in a way, have to sell our labor so that we can continue surviving. In a different world, and folks like to imagine what that world could look like, we're not necessarily tied to that financial piece in order to live. But when you look at if I want to live life in general, not even a good life, just live life, I need to have a certain amount of money. And the world right now is becoming more challenging with a lot of financial struggles that are coming up a lot of financial challenges that a lot of folks are experiencing. And so this may be a bit of a silly piece of advice, but it has worked. And I would recommend it for folks, especially in a world where we love our credit cards and we love to tap and keep going. People don't know how much they're spending or how much they're making and how much is going in, how much is going out. And so I feel like a bit of a financial advisor sometimes when I'm having these conversations. But it does tie into avoidance. When people feel worried about something and their reaction is to avoid it, A, it's a normal reaction. But B, if we avoid it enough times, we can pretend like it doesn't exist. Then that's going to present itself with a whole lot of trouble for us where people end up in debt. People end up struggling. People end up affecting their families, whatever it may be. And so I think if we can turn away from the avoidance and look at what's coming in…
Katherine Hurtig
Well, it's just like you said about that self-awareness, being aware of our financial situation.
Rasha Taha
Because I think it can be really easy. The world is set up for us right now to not pay attention to what we're making, let's say, because spending is so easy. You click a button and that's it. And so I think if we want to lean on avoidance, it's really, really easy to. So I would argue it's a lot of work to become aware and to look at what's going on, to look at, let's say in this situation, look at your bank account. Like I have clients who don't want to look at their bank accounts because they're scared. Valid, but it's not going to make the problem go away.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
Right. Like we do need to look towards it so that, again, if we're aware of it, then we can try to fix it. We can change it. If we don't know it's there, we can't really change it. So paying attention to what your bank account looks like, trying to budget, trying to hold yourself accountable or having an accountability buddy when it comes to finances. I think those are all steps that folks can start with so that they can feel a little bit more secure. It's tough to give advice around financial stuff because everyone's situation is so, so, so different. So, I mean, it's not going to apply to everyone who's listening. But, yeah, it's like looking at what is in your control in terms of your money. You know, like there's balance, right? But it's looking at what can you control in terms of spending? What can you control in terms of income? And, yeah.
Rasha Taha
And the word I really want to focus on that you just use is balance. Right? I think a lot of folks will struggle with that balance. And especially when it comes to money, one end of the spectrum can look like, oh, I just won't pay attention to it at all. And the other side of it is, oh, I'm going to be so, so mindful of every single cent that I spend to the point where I'm depriving myself of simple things like a coffee.
Katherine Hurtig
I know. I was just going to say, like, you always hear like, oh, if you just cut out that that cup of coffee, you'd have this much. It's like if you, you know, if your morning is brightened by that cup of coffee, that's not a bad thing. You know, money can bring us joy.
Rasha Taha
Absolutely. And to a certain extent, it's supposed to.
Katherine Hurtig
Totally.
Rasha Taha
That's what it's supposed to do. It's, again, looking at that balance. And I love the example that you used where would I rather someone cut out their $5 coffee every morning that brings them joy and sets them up well for the day? Or would I rather they cut that out and be miserable and have to find other coping mechanisms that maybe they don't have the energy for? Maybe they're already tapped out and this coffee is keeping them going. Then get the coffee.
Katherine Hurtig
Get the coffee!
We talked about kind of positive change and feelings around that. You know, like you said, change, it's happening all the time. You know, good and not so good. So how do we kind of hold space for, you know, both the feeling of fear, you know, a little bit of uneasiness, but also hope and excitement when dealing with change?
Rasha Taha
The thing that really stands out for me with that question is, and I find this a lot with the folks who I work with, where oftentimes folks will feel like they can only hold one feeling. They can only hold one at a time, essentially. And I will often bring up my hands and go, we can feel both. You can feel both excited and absolutely terrified at the same time. And you don't have to pick one. You can feel a bit more of one than the other, but it doesn't make the other one any less valid. And so I think that reminding folks that we do that all the time anyway. We hold multiple feelings at the same time. But sometimes when feelings come up that seem like they're oppositional to one another, then folks will feel like they have to pick a side. They have to pick one. Oh, like, am I scared or am I excited? Or am I happy or am I worried? You can be both. You can be three if you'd like. If you can count all the feelings. If you can hold them at the same time because we're complex. We're nuanced. We're not linear. But I think folks tend to try to simplify things and try to kind of tackle one of those feelings. So again, coming back to this idea of a balance, can we look at both that fear and that hope and recognize that both can exist simultaneously? And can we, when it comes to both fear and hope, can we be mindful that the fear doesn't engulf the hope? And then maybe looking at hope engulfing the fear, is there something that we do actually need to be mindful of that the fear is trying to tell us? Right? It's not, fear isn't a bad thing. No feeling is bad. Feelings are information. And I will say that time and time and time again. I'm pretty sure every single client of mine has heard this at some point in time. Feelings are information. They're not good. They're not bad. They're just trying to tell us something. So what is it that the fear is trying to tell us? What is it trying to warn us about? What's the hope trying to say? What are we excited for? And being able to hold those pieces of information and recognizing that it's okay for all of them to be coexisting.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. And speaking of fear and hope, I mean, with everything going on in the world, we've, you know, got climate change and economic shifts and political changes. It's really easy to feel like everything is uncertain. So, you know, how do we kind of stay mentally steady when the big picture feels so unpredictable?
Rasha Taha
I think the word balance comes back up here where we can get so caught up in what's going on in the world that we forget that we don't have control over what's going on in the world. We have control over what our lives look like right now. So I'll often describe to folks, I'll describe it as the personal, the medium slash society, and then the global. And I'll describe it in those levels. And if we stay too much in one area, then the other areas or the other spheres might then unaware of what's going on in them. And too much of living in one may then negatively impact what's going on on these other spheres. So if you focus so much on what's going on in your own life, you may not notice what's going on in your society, in your community, with your family members, right? If you're so super self-absorbed. Whereas if you're so focused on what's going on at the global level, you may be neglecting yourself, right? So again, looking at that balance of can you moderate how much social media you consume? Because it can be a slippery slope where one thing will take you to the other and then fear will creep up and then everything will feel so out of control. Can you come back down to, OK, what can I control right now? I can control my breath. I can control what I do in the next hour. I can control what my week looks like to a certain extent. Like these are the things that I can control. I want to stay informed of what's going on in my society, in my community, in the world, but not to my own detriment.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, I think I don't think we're built to be as informed and connected as we are. Like, you know, every minute of the day we can find out what's happening all over the world. And I don't know how much of a good thing that is.
Rasha Taha
I think it's definitely crept into not a good thing. Yeah. Especially with the prevalence of social media and how much of a wildfire it's spread like. And it's maybe addictive qualities where people have a really hard time putting their phone down. They have a hard time disconnecting from that world because it is a world. It's not necessarily the most accurate version of the world because your feed will look like it wants to, essentially. Like there's so much going on into it that it's curating information for you. It's curating content for you specifically, and that will impact how you feel. And that's scary, but AI essentially is getting to decide how we're being impacted. And so I think taking control back and limiting our exposure to it can be really, really beneficial.
Katherine Hurtig
One last question, Rasha. You know, what's one simple thing that we can leave our listeners with today? Like something we can do today to feel a little more grounded, even when the future feels really uncertain.
Rasha Taha
Honestly, everything is so chaotic all the time. And I don't know a single person who isn't absorbed in the chaos. And so sometimes just taking a moment to think of what you're saying, or to take a moment to not say anything at all, I think can be really effective.
Katherine Hurtig
Thank you so much, Rasha. Excellent conversation. And you've left me with a lot to think about.
Rasha Taha
This was fun.
Katherine Hurtig
Excellent.
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You've been listening to Living Fully, a Calgary Counselling Centre podcast. Thank you for tuning in. This episode was produced by Luiza Campos, Manuel Montano, Jenna Forbes, and by me, Katherine Hurtig. A special thanks to Rasha Taha.
To stay up to date on our latest episodes, be sure to subscribe. We're available in your favorite podcast app. Living Fully is a production of Calgary Counselling Centre and recorded in Calgary on Treaty 7 territory. Living Fully podcast is not a substitute or alternative for professional care or treatment. Calgary Counselling Centre and Counselling Alberta provide effective counselling to anyone in Alberta with no waitlist and no financial barriers. Find us online at calgarycounselling.com and counsellingalberta.com. For help across Canada and the United States, call 211. If you are outside of Canada and the U.S., seek help from your general medical practitioner.