In 2020, everyone had to face uncertainty: the pandemic changed the usual course of life and introduced new fears. A year ago, we opened a poll about what our readers are afraid of. Summing up the main results
Most of the fears of survey participants are related to work, finances and the uncertainty of the future. The pandemic has shown that all plans for the coming years can fail due to circumstances beyond our control. It is becoming more and more difficult to build a career or stay in the current place: you have to adapt to new, unexpected conditions. For various reasons, change can be difficult. Not all readers are ready for digitalization or mastering a new profession. It’s scary that you won’t be able to change yourself and find a place in the new world.
There are also concerns related to work that are not directly dependent on the pandemic. Some respondents are afraid of losing interest in their field or getting a profession that will not be able to bring the desired income. No less frightening is the professional stagnation, the inability to predict a career and the lack of confidence in the future.
The development of technologies in different areas also causes fear among survey participants. These fears are not unfounded: in the near future, many duties will be performed by robots or computer programs, which can lead to a decrease in people’s earnings or even to the loss of a job. However, most readers still see positive aspects in such a perspective. In their opinion, the widespread introduction of technology will improve areas such as education and medicine, and will provide more opportunities for the professional development of future generations, who will not have to spend time on routine work.
Many also fear the deterioration of their health and the inability to receive quality medical care. They are afraid of the situation with the pandemic: the lack of doctors for patients with coronavirus and, at the same time, the employment of doctors who cannot yet pay as much attention to the treatment of people with other diseases as before COVID-19. It also frightens the deterioration of mental health under the influence of isolation, loneliness or other reasons.
Some respondents are concerned about the political situation both within the country and abroad. Among the fears in this area, readers highlight new laws, international conflicts and a lack of understanding of what will happen next. Some see the separation of the authorities from understanding the problems of the population, which affects the standard of living of citizens.
The last major category of fears was the situation with the environment: the readers surveyed are afraid of environmental disasters that may arise against the backdrop of global warming, irresponsible attitude to nature and an excess of garbage. No less dangerous is the extinction of Red Book animals caused by climate change, poaching and other factors.
Other fears include the fear of closing borders, the possibility of a crisis, famine and even war.
We’ve compiled some comments about the fears and challenges that survey participants — and you and I — have as we look to the future. Now is a good reason to let go of these fears and take a closer look at the opportunities that are always there, even in the most difficult situation.
What are we afraid of
- Problems with work and professional self-realization
“I’m afraid that at some point, what I have been doing for years and what I was an expert in will cease to be needed and paid. Let’s say, at 40, to be left without a job and without a dream simply because I chose the wrong path.
“I worked in the same field for twenty years. Worked her way up from a line employee to a sales director. Now I understand that I don’t want to do this job, but I don’t know how to find myself in another area.
“I work as an ordinary worker, this year I entered the institute. I’m very afraid that after graduation I won’t find a good job with a decent salary.”
In the new reality, all of us, most likely, will have to learn and relearn all our lives. Therefore, it is not at all necessary to remain a hostage to the choice made back in school, an obsolete profession or crisis circumstances in the country or the world. Read the following related articles:
- Peter Diamandis: “Now is the best time to be entrepreneurial”
- Learn for a century: how to integrate learning into workdays
- 100 professions of the future
- Take your time to work: how hobbies and hobbies will help you in your career
- What are soft skills and how to develop them. Complete guide
- How to choose an online course and actually complete it
- New technologies and robotization
“I’m afraid that artificial intelligence will replace people and this will increase the number of unemployed.”
The accelerated development of technology will indeed change the lives of many professionals, but it will also bring new opportunities. Keep up with changes in your industry and learn new in-demand skills. You can also read these texts:
- What professions may disappear in the near future?
- Da Vinci machine: will artificial intelligence be more creative than humans
- Income of computer faces: will robots have to pay taxes
- Work for a robot: can artificial intelligence replace a person
- The victory of algorithms: what awaits the future of artificial intelligence systems
- How to build trust between human and artificial intelligence
- Financial position
“I have a small pension, and if I can’t work, then there will be nothing to eat.”
“Frightens high inflation without wage increases, loss of savings.”
The financial issue is one of the frequent causes for anxiety. How to learn how to save money, save up for retirement and change jobs to a higher paying one – in the materials of Trends:
- Everything is ahead: career opportunities for specialists after 50
- How to catch the wave: seven high-paying jobs of the future
- Where they pay 900 thousand a month
- Intercept before paycheck: how the principle of pay on-demand is changing the labor market
- How to spend less money: 7 tips from neuroeconomists
- On your own, online, with your boss: how to save for retirement
- Uncertainty and the unknown
“Now it’s harder for me to guess how the world will change: there are too many factors that play a role, including those that I have no idea about at all. A year ago, I could not even imagine that something like the coronavirus would happen.”
“The most frightening thing is uncertainty, instability in all spheres of our society: in the economy, politics. It scares me that stagnation will begin and nothing will change.”
The unknown is scary, but you can (and should) get used to constant changes, because now this is our new reality. How to do this – read, for example, in this collection of materials:
- What is Theory U or how to make decisions under uncertainty
- Pen or lost: for whom the crisis is a time of opportunity
- How to correctly predict the future and see trends using foresight
- Agile Time: What Skills Does a Leader Need in the Face of Uncertainty?
- How to make plans in an era of uncertainty: Dmitry Falaleev
- Out of balance: how to plan your future in the face of uncertainty
- Health
“The loss of the ability to physically and psychologically adapt to constant change is frightening.”
“Possible health problems in the context of a sharp decline in the quality and availability of medical care.”
“Death that is inevitable.”
Health is the most important thing that each of us has. From this point of view, the coronavirus has added to our worries and exposed some psychological problems. One of the important tasks here is the prevention and early detection of diseases to start timely treatment. In addition, more and more researchers and visionaries believe that aging is also a disease, and in the future there will be more and more developments and technologies aimed at prolonging youth. Related materials:
- The secret of health: what to read and see about biohacking
- Science and technology against cancer: eight trends
- Recovery and complications after coronavirus: what to do
- Neurophysiologist Vyacheslav Dubynin on the causes of anxiety and stress
- What can be done now to prolong life. Blog by Peter Diamandis
- Anton Kushner: how to enter 2021 with good mental health
- Political and social events
“International conflicts, the unstable economic situation are frightening: severe crises, the depreciation of the ruble and an increase in prices.”
When everything around is changing, and social and political tensions are growing, it becomes alarming, and this is normal. It is important to remember that each of us can make this world a little better, starting with ourselves and our environment. It is important to adjust to a different type of thinking: the ability to make the right decisions in a crisis (of any kind) will be very useful and in demand in the future. What to read on the topic:
- What reflexes should be developed during a crisis
- Mitya Aleshkovsky – “Our taxes are not enough for a wonderful life”
- Form and Detention: What Underlies Police Violence
- Amendments to the constitution: how and why in the world change the basic law
- Work with meaning: who and where to study in order to change the world for the better
- East-West: pandemic and economic justice in the world
- Ecology
“The environmental situation is only getting worse. Our own future is not as scary as what awaits humanity in 20-40 years.”
“Many species of plants and animals are disappearing, people are chasing only money and killing animals that are in the Red Book for their own gain.”
The problem of ecology is one of the most serious today, since the future of mankind literally depends on its solution. Experts have been sounding the alarm for a long time: people urgently need to improve the situation, otherwise we may face extinction as a species or forced relocation to other planets. However, there are more and more conscious people and companies, as well as environmental initiatives and developments around the world. You can read about it in the following articles:
- The Green Blue Dream: Will the Earth be Saved for Future Generations?
- Ecologist Artem Alekseev – on the results of the first two years of the “garbage” reform
- “Green” patents in our country: four main development trends
- Serving the Earth: 11 Promising Green Economy Jobs
- How attitudes towards environmental problems have changed in our country over the past 20 years
- How companies come together for sustainability
In general, our fears are not too different from those experienced by people around the world. So, according to a new survey by Ipsos, three out of five adults consider declining health, layoffs and climate change to be real threats in 2021. It is important not to focus on risks and worries and also see the positive changes in our lives that the future can bring.
Where do we see opportunities
- Technology development
“The possibilities are endless. I observe the development of technologies related to space exploration, the development of ecology, new technologies for business.”
“The availability of more information for learning and self-development. I try to follow the development of technologies for the home, improving comfort and safety.”
“I believe that against the background of mass digitalization, there will be a need for living people, human professions: a teacher, a psychologist, a scientist. I believe that in science it will be possible to develop and think about new technologies, and not about whether the salary is enough for life and for medicines.”
“I want to prevent climate change and follow eco-innovations.”
- Artificial Intelligence
“I am watching the development of unmanned vehicles, artificial intelligence. I am convinced that in the future, in the world of big data, there will be my avatar (in the form of the same data).”
“In the future, opportunities will open up for unhindered movement between countries and work / communication with any people from any countries. It will become possible to work according to vocation without thinking about the financial side of the issue. I actively monitor the development of artificial intelligence, astronautics, technologies for obtaining, storing and transmitting energy and quantum technologies.”
- Alternative and renewable energy
“I am watching the development of efficient and environmentally friendly technologies. The most important thing is a new type of energy production.”
- UAVs
“I see opportunities in drones of various formats, in medicines to extend lifespan.”
- Career
“I am a doctor, I see myself as a doctor in the future, regardless of external circumstances. My main job as a doctor is to educate people about what to do to be healthy.”
“Now I’m actively studying the topic of online promotion. Subsequently, I see an opportunity to sell my services and products online with the help of a personal brand.”
- Investment
“Investments are the future of human income, namely passive income.”
Alexandrina Grigoryeva – PhD in Psychology, clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, director of the Neurocenter clinic in Moscow:
A person is so arranged that he always needs external and internal supports. These include material goods (money, property, employment), health (physical and mental), social stability (relations in the family, relations in society), intrapersonal (characteristic features, talents and abilities, skills). The stability of the individual, her readiness to move forward and build her own future depends on the number and strength of these supports. Losing one of them, a person begins to rely more strongly on the other – this is our adaptability, neuroplasticity.
During the pandemic, we are faced with circumstances that have dramatically changed the way we live. These changes seem to have knocked out from under us that stool on which we have stood so firmly for a long time. We have lost several pillars at once: the threat to physical and mental well-being, the uncertainty about the future, financial uncertainty, changes in social relations. And the most important thing that I had to face face to face is the biggest fear of a person – the fear of death.
It is extremely difficult to endure and resist in such circumstances, especially if a person had not so many supports before the difficult period. What mental health professionals are seeing at this time is an increase in irritability, anxiety, distrust. What people used to be able to restrain and regulate has now turned into extremes: anxiety – into fear for life and for loved ones; irritation – into open conflict and social aggression; self-doubt – in despair before what is happening; fatigue and lack of strength – into apathy and depressive states; high sensitivity and impulsiveness – into emotional instability and so on. The surge of these mental and psychological phenomena makes us think about what is really valuable and how to protect our health. Prevention of mental and physical illnesses is the most important task in a crisis period.
A few important universal rules:
Our most important support in times of crisis is ourselves. Different opinions, numerous social controversies only increase our vulnerability, instability and susceptibility to change.
Own opinion, own position, respectful attention to one’s personality, psyche and body is what gives us back support and confidence in the most difficult periods of life. Situations are difficult, but each of us is able to deal with them meaningfully and make the best use of the opportunities that life currently presents us.
I would like to quote the words of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: “If you know the “why”, you can endure any “how”. If we have our own goals, meanings and values, and we are able to keep them, then this becomes the key to successfully overcoming any negative life situations.
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