dealing with uncertainty
the only way to become more comfortable with uncertainty and reduce your situational anxiety is to practice in small ways. pick your entree from the menu at the last second instead of browsing the menu before you arrive, choose your coffee order when the cashier greets you instead of rehearsing it like lines in a play. the low stakes choices will help with the bigger situations.
you cannot prepare for every possibility, the mental preparation may help for the day but it prolongs your discomfort with uncertainty anxiety. it's a nefarious coping mechanism that only hurts in the long term.
some preparation is healthy. things that are necessary for mission success, knowing where the hotel is for example, but preparing what to say to the concierge (beyond your name) is not critical. there's a balance between preparing the minimal amount, and planning for every eventuality, because you cannot foresee every eventuality as much as your anxiety will tell you so.
for years i've channeled my anxiety as a superpower to help me plan for situations. only now am i realizing it's dug me into a hole of always needing to do this prep even for the most low stakes scenarios. its actually fucking exhausting to do this! so in some sort of conclusion to this post, i challenge you dear reader to lean into uncertainty a bit, and lead a few small rebellions against your anxiety.