How to prepare for the unknown

Carla Watson
Jul 11, 2024
6 min read

A little disclaimer before you read:

I wrote this blog almost 2 years ago, while on my 2nd or 3rd trimester. It is 2024 now and I just realised it has been sitting on my drafts files! (Massive baby brain) so I decided to tweak it a little bit and publish as it was meant to. So here we go….

Preparing for the unknown....

What a contradiction right?

Preparing for something you are unaware of.

Maybe that's how the first werewolf felt when they were trying to figure out how to navigate the changes they were experiencing every full moon.

Or maybe for a more relatable comparrision, lets think about how during the pandemic we all tried to do prepare for the "unknown". Preparing for an event that had a lot of speculation, especially at the beginning. Regardless if our different opinions and approaches we all (tried to be) prepared, in our way, for the unknown.

We can also think of the time when we were little,. The day just before starting a new school year. Most of us, with the idea of facing new classmates on the upcoming school year. Do you remember the night before that first day? The excitement and perhaps the fear? How did we prepared back them? Some of us were privileged enough to go and buy some schools supplies maybe even get to choose our favourite ones. Some of us had to pick up hand me down items, like uniforms and books. Regardless of how we got our school supplies maybe that was the way of preparing for the unknown. The excitement of a new pencil or a book we opened for the first time with the illusion of comprehending its insides by the end of the year.

With pregnancy I tried to prepare for the unknown. No matter how healthy you are before being pregnant, being pregnant is a situation that changes you completely. It brings out things that would’ve stayed unawake. Before feeling ready to be pregnant I read, talked to doctors and tried to live a lifestyle that in theory will allow me to have a healthy pregnancy. I had to do a few adjustments but to be honest, my preparation paid off.

But every unknown is different too... That's something else to consider.

Going back in time for a moment, last year David and I went to Greece to celebrate our pregnancy and relax after a very very busy British Summer. We had been working our asses off for months and this trip was like that light at the end of the tunnel.

We saved money, pinned a few places we wanted to visit in the little Island we were staying, bought sun screen, took care of the dogs, rented a car, paid for the parking back in the UK, made sure I had enough prenatal vitamins, and special socks to travel…

We arrived thinking we were going to enjoy the most wonderful, happy and relaxing days of 2022 until then, but we found ourselves with something unexpected: fucking wasps.

Apparently Cephalonia, the greek Island we visited, has a wasp problem in late summer…which was the time we were there. It was a nightmare. If you follow me on Instagram you probably already heard the whole story.

But I will keep it brief here.

Basically the wasps were so invasive and so many of them that they will chase tourists in the ocean water far far away (we saw it happening a few times). You couldn’t seat outside and read because they will come and buzz around you, which as a pregnant person was quite an awful feeling to hold all the time (besides when we were inside our small windowless airbnb... Ok it had 2 windows but they were facing the sky so not much of a view haha!).

Hiking was possible but only briefly and at the tallest point of the island, and even there you had to keep moving because you could hear the wasps flying near the top of the trees.... We "hiked" for 15 minutes took a few pictures and decided to go back to the area we staying at. The drive was lovely tho!

On day 3, we found a small beach without wasps but a big storm found us, I'm not kidding, 5 minutes after we sat on the beach! Oh and our little car got stuck on a dirt lane (that’s another story by itself haha) and a very kind Greek man rescued us with his big truck and did not charged us anything for his help. Till this day I think of him as one of those angels the universe sends from time to time.

Anyway, Cephalonia won the war and we decided throw the towel. We called the airline, moved our tickets and went home after 3 nights. It was the best decision for our mental health. Sure, we lost some money on the airbnb, maybe saved a few bucks on the dog sitter but the rest of the days we had off we spent relaxing in our livingroom in good-old-wasp-free-grayish-autumnmy england..

So hey, this is an example of how we tried to prepare for the unknown of what we thought was going to be a lovely holiday and ended up being something else BUT we tried to make the most of our situation with the options we had available at the time. Guys, we really tried to enjoy this beautiful Island but at the end we had to improvise and accept what was overall the best for us. And hey, now I know that as part of my holiday research I now not only google "best vegan restaurants" or "best hiking route" now I also google "seasonal plagues" and "dangerous animals" too.

I've said it before and I will say it again...

Trying is learning.

Now, going back to this journey I'm embarking: human parenthood. I've heard many people say nothing can prepare you for having a child. And I agree that up to a point we can't never be fully prepared for new experiences, but we can try. Like I've told my clients many times, I tell myself now too: “baby steps" (no pun intended)

So basically, what's I've been asking myself during my pregnancy is: what’s next?”.

For me at the moment of originally writing this blog, almost 2 years ago, birth was the answer.

As I approach to the inevitable and exciting one in a lifetime experience, I have been doing my best to prepare both mentally and physically through different things. And if you asked me if I am ready for the birthing experience I want and have in mind (even with the normal challenges this event might bring) I feel ready. I feel ready to try, to trust and to be flexible. But at the end of the day how this event will develop is not a given, the details are still an unknown. I’m aware how maybe preparing the way I have been maybe will or not set me for the exact outcomes I want. But I can try. All we can do is try. Right? And I feel ready to do my best. To expect the best. To fight for the best scenario for me, my baby and my family.

And yes, this is the approach I usually have when facing something unknown: to try my best to be prepared and to welcome unexpected changes with an open heart and flexible mind. Because as soon as the unknown meets a rigid mind or a closed up heart, there might be a collision. And if anything, that collision and its consequences is what I try to avoid with the way I approach preparing for the unknown.

And yes, from a practical point of view, I realise, I have not answer the question…

How to prepare for the unknown.

Let's begin with a truth bomb: you can’t fully prepare. But you can try your best and even, enjoy trying.

With this in mind here are a few things that work for me and many others to prepare for the unknown:

Talk to others with more experience. There’s so much value in learning from other people’s experiences, when there’s respect, openness and understanding.
Read books related to the topic or simply books about something completely unrelated. You will be surprised of the places creativity and innovation are hiding.
Remind yourself that is ok to fail.
Hold a compassionate mindset if you face an scenario you did not wanted. It creates a deeper sense of self-worth leading to genuine feelings of well-being and recovery after a setback.
Journaling! Having a space to dump my thoughts safely and distance myself from them.
Gratitude. I’ve discussed many times on Instagram and in my blog how practicing gratitude impact on both your mental and physical health.

Now if you want to combine compassionate mindset, journaling and gratitude practice my first published physical book called “A year of gratefulness: journaling and self reflection” may be the additional support you are looking for.

The truth is with the internet we have access to so much information and support, I know it can be a blessing and a burden. Sometimes even leaving us with the feeling we have to do everything alone, when that’s not the case. You don’t have to do everything alone, unless you really want to, there’s always help for you. Or at least support though your journey to accompany you while you figure things out.

There’s always hope.

After sharing this words with you my hope is that you feel a tiny bit more ready to prepare for the unknown.