What My First Apartment Taught Me About Living In Uncertain Times

I got my first apartment near the Pentagon on September 10, 2001.

As we stood outside watching the planes navigate down the Potomac, my mom asked if I was sure I wanted to live so close to Reagan National. “But that noise.”

The next morning, the noise stopped.

And it stayed quiet for months. I laid in bed, listening to the silence, an occasional fighter jet, but mostly “End the Washington Monument (Blinks) Goodnight” by Q And Not U.

I wore gloves to check my mail. And a year later, I stopped driving so I could avoid gas stations and the D.C. Sniper. The traffic outside stopped too when he struck the Home Depot down the road.

It was my first experience living in “uncertain times.”

Or so I thought.

There’s a lot of talk now about uncertainty — with the economy, job market, war, environment, and politics. But what I’ve come to recognize is that we’re always living with uncertainty. We just forget about it until we get the kind of reminder that can’t be ignored. Like an illness or layoff.

It might feel like there’s been a shift, but our vulnerability was always there. And so were our blessings.

When we understand that nothing is guaranteed, our minds can go in one of two ways: towards gratitude or fear. It can’t do both.

Accept the uncertainty and perhaps find a way to embrace it. Control what you can, but try not to worry about the things you can’t. Cherish the present moment and know it’s all you ever really have.